Ed, Al, and all those crazy crossovers
by mmm donut seeds
Summary: With a new State Alchemist job, Ed is ready to finally settle somewhat and take care of his brother. But with a Homunculous named Pride running the country and a mysterious sister on the loose, his world gets turned upside down even more.
1. Chapter 1

Ed clapped his hands and placed them on the ground, channeling his energy into the ground beneath him. It was vital that he pass this test, it would make the difference between having to leave, again, and finally being able to stay. The two of them had enough traveling, and were ready to have actual relationships with people not immediately involved in some sadistic plan or trying to manipulate them. The indent on the ground was a perfect replica of Central, mini of course, down to the pipe systems. He smiled with satisfaction. In the replica Hughes was picking his nose, though no one noticed. The crowd clapped, but Edward wasn't really paying attention. He wasn't looking for their approval, he was looking for one person's, and one person's only. That would be the Fuhrer. He smiled and nodded hid head in affirmation. Edward let out the breath he was holding and honestly smiled, something he hadn't done in a while. Finally, their troubles were over.  
"Good job. You'll make a fine state alchemist. Say hello to your new charge, Roy."  
Colonel Mustang grimaced, the last thing he needed was to babysit, watching over some kid. But the kid showed promise, so maybe it wouldn't be so hard. Even the disapproving expression couldn't wipe the smile from Ed' beaming face. He had done the impossible, again. Things were going to be ok.  
"You did what?!?"  
"I did it, I became a state alchemist. Think about it Al, now we won't have to worry about food anymore. And we'll have access to the library..." Edward's face was one of complete and utter devotion, he had been wanting to have complete access to the library since forever.  
"Yeah... but..."  
"Don't worry Al. We'll be fine."  
The next morning when Edward woke up at first he thought it had all been a dream, but it hadn't. He got off the makeshift bed and walked to the office, where he now worked. This day couldn't be better.  
"Edward Elric reporting for duty, sir."  
No person should be this chipper this early, Roy thought to himself. It just wasn't natural. Never the less, Edward's smile didn't diminish as Colonel Mustang regarded him coldly and with barely concealed contempt. Kids shouldn't be here, this wasn't a playground.  
"You're late." Would Edward dare correct his commanding officer, or would he just take whatever Roy threw at him? Edward looked at the clock, and then back at his commanding officer.  
"You said 06:00 hours this morning, sir." Edward reminded him.  
"I recall that I told you 05:30, and I don't take kindly to people that forget what they were told. Are we clear?"  
"Yes sir." Edward was no longer beaming, but had a more sullen and serious look on his face.  
"There was a report yesterday that five people have gone missing in Liore, I want you to investigate it. I want a full report in two weeks. You are dismissed."  
It was an impossible mission, Roy knew that. Not only were there tensions between the two of them, but they had been looking for the people responsible for this for a long time, with no results as of yet. With any luck, and luck at all, when he went in he would come back empty handed and quit. The military is no place for children. Edward smiled again and left the office, his first mission. His first chance to prove that he did belong here, and he was going to do pretty much whatever it takes to make sure he was successful. He had a feeling there weren't going to be any second chances. Missing this was not an option.  
"Pack your bags, Al. We're going to Liore."  
"What's in Liore?"  
"My first mission."  
They barely had enough money for the train ride, but somehow managed to scrape up the required amount. They still had to ride with the sheep.  
"This is going to be a long ride."  
"Hell yes it is."  
"Ed? Where'd you go?"  
"What do you mean where did I go? I'm right here."  
"Oh, when you're sitting down the sheep are a lot taller than you. I couldn't see you for a second."  
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO RIDICULOUSLY SHORT YOU COULD FRY HIM WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS?!?!"  
Al sighed. "I never said that, Brother."  
"Oh."  
By the time they got off the train they were seriously wanting for a bath, so they looked for a stream or lake. Once they were properly clean again they started looking for the town. When they arrived the streets were deserted, not a person to be seen.  
"Hello? Is anyone here?"  
The only response was a shutter closing. The entire city was indoors and locked up tight, with the exception of a small kitten that was limping down the street. Luckily Al was the first one to spot it, and picked the poor thing up.  
"Hey Ed, do you still know how to make a splint? This poor cat has a broken leg."  
"Just a second Al."  
Using a scrap of cloth that he ripped from the bottom of his shirt and a piece of wood that was lying there, Ed fixed the cat up. It really took a liking to Al, and started purring contentedly. There was a pattering of footsteps, and leaving the cat with Al, Ed chased after the person running. Whoever the person was, they were fast, but Edward was faster. He grabbed the kid by the shoulder, and the kid tried to bite him. Fortunately for him, he was holding him with the metal arm.  
"What are you doing to him? Let him go! Is that what the military is doing now, taking our children? It's bad enough that you're making everyone stay indoors, but kids? This is a new low." A man with a scar across his face was the one who spoke, behind him were some other people that Edward didn't recognize, but their eyes were red, which threw him off for a second. Who were these people? He let go of the boy.  
"I wasn't intending to take him anywhere, I was trying to find out why everyone was inside. The military is doing this?"  
"Like you don't know. I bet you're one of them too. You shouldn't be here! Go away!"  
"Relax, I'm not going to do anything to anybody. How do you know they're military?"  
"We'd know those uniforms anywhere, they're military all right."  
_I'd kill Colonel Mustang when I get back for not telling me this._  
"Hey! You have our kitten!"  
"What? Oh. Yeah, we found it on the street earlier, it's hurt pretty bad, but Brother fixed her up." Al passed the kitten back to the kid, who cuddled it and held it close.  
"Thank you."  
"You're welcome."  
"You there! What are you doing outside? We told everyone to stay indoors!"  
The others scattered, leaving Al and Ed alone to face the 'military'. Kimnley smiled maniacally.  
"You know what we do to people that don't listen?" Kimnley smacked the pipe he was holding in his hand threateningly, and by this point Ed had a pretty good idea who was murdering people here, and that he had somehow volunteered to be the next victim.  
"Oh no, I feel so threatened. Whatever shall I do?" Edward said sarcastically. They may have been outnumbered, but both he and Al could do alchemy, and he assumed that the majority of Kimnley's crew could not. Edward transformed his metal hand into a blade, and it wiped the smirk off of quite a few of their faces. Edward rushed toward Kimnley while Al created a cage around the others  
At the office Roy was doing paperwork when he realized that Ed was still a minor and would have to get permission from his guardian about his job. He sighed, this should have been done earlier.  
"Havoc, I want you to get me the address of Mr. Elric's residence."  
"Yes sir."  
Anything to get out from under the death glare that Riza was sending him. If looks could kill... and all he had done was suggested that she and Mustang go out already... maybe that hadn't been the best of calls.  
In Liore a skirmish that would decide who ultimately controlled the city was taking place, and Ed had Kimnley pressed against the metal point of his hand.  
"Go on, do it already. Or are you scared?"  
He hated killing people, even when they deserved it. There was no other way though, he knew that somehow Kimnley would manage to escape, again, and kill more people for no reason. He laughed at Ed, assuming he wouldn't do it, until he felt the metal twist in his gut. By this time the streets had cleared, except for the goons that were in the cage. None of them had guessed that their leader would die, some had even doubted that he could. Obviously, they had been wrong.  
"You... killed him."  
"There wasn't another way, he would have escaped if I hadn't."  
People began to peek out of their door to see what was going on, and hesitantly left their homes, disbelieving that he was really gone.  
"What are your names?"  
"Edward and Alphonse Elric. Now I'm starved Al, what do you say we get some food?"  
The people, very grateful for their work, gladly took care of them. They stayed for a while, meeting and helping the people at Al's request, which Ed obliged. They had to eventually leave though, as he did have a deadline.  
"I'm glad you got that job, now we can help people," Al said.  
"Yeah, so am I."  
When the train pulled in they went to the military building, Al waited outside for Ed. The others were honestly surprised to see him back, as he was just so young. They hid it though, pretending not to notice him as he walked directly to Mustang's office and knocked on the door.  
"Come in."  
Ed handed in his report and waited patiently while Roy skimmed through it. His frown became more and more pronounced as he read.  
"They said that the criminals were claiming to be military?"  
"That's correct."  
"One more thing before you go, you need to work on your handwriting."  
Edward's expression considerably darkened, which Roy took careful note of. His willingness to please and joy of coming to work was annoying him, it simply wasn't realistic. Of course, he didn't know the situation behind it, not that Ed would care to explain it. He wasn't the type to share his problems. The reason his handwriting was so horrible was he because before the accident, he was right handed and never learned to use the automail or his left hand for that. He simply hadn't had reason to. But he was also not going to give Roy any more reason to want him gone, and was going to fix it. Immediately. Failure was not an option, not that it ever had been.  
"Yes sir."  
"Is that all you have to say? 'Yes sir' 'No sir'? Is that what you're here for, to become a dog of the military?"  
Ed glared at him dangerously with as much venom as he could, and Roy just smirked. "No, I'm here because I need the job, though you aren't here for that, I'm sure. You're just in it for the power, so you can manipulate people to do your bidding."  
It was Roy's turn to glare now. What made this kid think he could talk to him that way? "I made a promise."  
Edward didn't let his expression falter. "So did I. And nothing is going to make me break it, least of all you."  
With that Ed left Roy wondering if he had just implied that he was a threat. How could he be a threat to a promise he didn't even know about? The kid made no sense.  
Ed didn't get very far before tears started running down his face, the weight of the situation crashing down on him all at once. Truly this was long over due, should have happened a long time ago, but through sheer willpower he had kept the tears at bay. He walked quickly, wanting to run away from all of it, the responsibility for both all and himself, the place where he knew people would never look at him like he belonged, the man who wanted to get rid of him and crush all of the things that he had managed to hold on to... it just felt like too much. He didn't go home until several hours later when he was sure he was calm and that Al wouldn't see that it was hurting this much. Maybe it was because it was a sense of pride thing, maybe not, but he didn't go home until it was dark outside. He took a deep breath and opened the door.  
"Hey Brother, where've you been?"  
"Oh, I was just walking around."  
"So how'd it go? Got another mission?"  
"No, they weren't satisfied with my handwriting so I have to write it over."  
"Oh. Don't they know..."  
"Nope, and I don't intend to. That's none of their business."  
"Ok."  
Edward took out a piece of paper and a pencil, determined to get it perfect. While Al had volunteered to do it for him, he had declined on the pretense that he needed to learn how to write. While this was a valid excuse, it was also because of the brotherly rivalry which said that anything Al could do he needed to do as well. Al had realized this and had been teasing him relentlessly, well, at least as far as Al was concerned. He knew that even the simplest of teasing could cause his brother to snap at him at times simply out of stress, which was why Al had been doing what he could to help his brother. Realistically, he knew that Ed was taking responsibility for everything that happened from their mother's death to their current predicament, and that he needed to stop. The problem was getting him to see that he had no control without totally alienating him. It was a delicate situation at best. When his brother finally passed out, the report only half finished to his standards, Al draped his red coat over him and eased the papers out from under his elbow to finish them. His brother really did try to do too much sometimes.  
When Ed woke up he was grateful for Al finishing his report, and decided to make it up to him somehow. There had to be something small that Ed could do for him... he pushed the thoughts to the back burner. He had to face Colonel Mustang, again, and he absolutely loathed the very idea of ever seeing his face again. No one, _No one_, had the right to question his motive, the _only_ reason he had joined the military was to take care of his brother. It was not because he liked being pushed around, or that he particularly enjoyed going after criminals and occasionally killing people, though he had grown good at acting like he did. It was kind of funny well people actually believed it sometimes. The only regret he had over getting that way was that innocent people had been hurt because he had not been able to stop them at times. If it was one thing he hated, it was people who enjoyed making lives miserable, or even taking them, for no reason. There was too much pain in the world already, no one needed to add to it. Instead of knocking on the door to the office like always, Edward just walked in and slammed the report on the desk. Roy had a strange look on his face, like he wanted to apologize or ask something, neither of which he wanted to bring up. Ed turned to leave without waiting for a response.  
"Wait. I did not dismiss you yet." Roy looked up from the report just as Ed placed his hand on the door knob.  
"What sir?" It was stated more of a statement than a question.  
"I just got a package from the Fuhrer earlier today, with instructions to give you these." Roy pulled out a black box and handed it to Edward, who opened it and took out the signature pocket watch. It was addressed to "the Fullmetal Alchemist." He almost laughed at the irony. In fact, a few chuckles did escape his throat.  
"What's so funny?"  
"It's nothing, just the name is kind of ironic."  
"Why?"  
"You don't know? I assumed the Fuhrer had told you, and I'm almost certain he knows. Oh well, it's not important anyway. Is that all?"  
"I demand that you tell me what is so funny."  
"My 'name'."  
Roy glared, knowing that his charge was purposefully avoiding the question. "You know what I mean."  
"I'm not entirely sure that I do."  
He almost preferred the drone version to this smart ass. In any case, it was too late now. That damage had already been done. What was more, Roy had the feeling that Edward wasn't hiding anything small either, something that wasn't just inconsequential. "Do you value your job?"  
"Of course I do." Edward's eyes narrowed into slits at what Mustang was, once again, implying.  
"Then you will tell me what you are hiding."  
In a second Ed's red cloak was mere shred's on the floor, revealing his metal arm, and he was not pleased at all. If anything he hated the colonel even more at this point.  
"Are you happy now?"  
"How did this happen?"  
"WHY THE FUCK DOES IT MATTER!?! Have you made it your goal in life to torture me as best you can? Because you're doing a really fucking good job at it." Edward clapped ironically with a twisted sarcasm that went beyond sarcasm. " Congratulations. Operation make my life hell was a success." It bordered insanity, between his expression and his tone.  
"I order you to tell me. If you don't I'll have you fired under the charges of disobeying the direct command of a superior officer."  
"FINE! YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW?!? IT"S BECAUSE I'M A DUMBASS!!! I TRIED TO BRING MY MOTHER BACK FROM THE DEAD! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW? DO YOU FINALLY HAVE WHAT YOU WANTED?!? MY BROTHER ALMOST LOST HIS LIFE, I GOT OUT WITH ONLY MY LEG MISSING! Now you see why I need this job? I need to make it up to him, for all that I've put him through. I almost lost him... I can't do it again."  
Roy, for once in his life, was speechless. Edward slammed the door behind him, ignoring the stares that he was getting. Havoc's cigarette dropped from his mouth, there was no longer any doubt as to why he was here. Again, instead of going immediately home, he leaned against the pillar outside of the office and blew at the sky. How was it that his life was this messed up?  
Riza entered Roy's office furious. She then slapped him across the face as hard as she could.  
"What could you possibly be thinking? Forcing him to talk like that, when you knew that it was obviously something that was sensitive to him. That was insensitive and cold and mean and _cruel._"  
"He disobeyed a direct order, I could not overlook that."  
"Just like you can't overlook the fact that he is a person, not just some pest that's keeping you from your mission."  
One of the things he liked about Riza was her ability to cut right to the heart of the matter. She didn't take his bull shit.  
"If I don't tell him that he is..."  
"I don't care, you don't manipulate people like that. Especially when you know it is something like that."  
"I'll apologize."  
Roy was out on the street searching for his charge, having no idea where in the world he would be. All he had was an address, and there had been no one home. He sighed, he had absolutely no idea where to look. So Edward took this particular moment to walk up the steps to where he was living, where Roy was. The death glare was not missed.  
"I've been meaning to talk to you..."  
"I don't want to hear it."  
"I was out of line, earlier. I shouldn't have antagonized you like that."  
It was easy to tell that Edward had been crying earlier, because of him, and that he was exhausted. He nodded solemnly and opened his door, then sighed.  
"Would you like to come in? It's not much, but Al won't leave me alone if I don't ask."  
Roy stepped inside, careful not to step on the whirlwind of papers that scattered every available surface that did not have books on it. Some of the titles he recognized, some he didn't. All of which looked like they were very complicated and difficult to understand.  
"Ok Al, he knows."  
A rather large suit of armor stepped from... well, he wasn't sure where. It was a real sign of trust that he didn't try to torch it, instead he merely regarded the hulking figure as if he saw this all the time. Ed went into the kitchen.  
"You want some tea?"  
"Yes, thanks. So this is your brother?"  
"Yup," he said rather absently as he added another scoop of caffeine formula. He usually tried to avoid using it, but he was on the verge of crashing, and that's why he had invented this stuff. It could keep a person awake for the maximum of a month, he would know, he tried it. He gave a cup to Mustang and kept the caffeinated one for himself.  
"So you must be Colonel Mustang! Pleased to meet you sir!"  
"Pleased to meet you as well. Where is your father?"  
There was silence, neither of them wanting to answer the question. "He's away," Al stated, looking kind of sad. Unlike Ed, Al had no animosity towards their father. He was just sad that he was gone.  
"Thanks for the tea, but I have to get going now. I'll see you tomorrow, Fullmetal."  
As soon as Roy left the building, Al turned on Ed.  
"You put caffeine in your tea again!"  
"I'm about to pass out Al."  
"But you said..."  
"I know, but I had too. I think I've almost got it."  
Al sighed, it was too late now. Though he did consider hiding the innocent looking canister...  
"Don't even think about it Al. I'll find it or make more." He didn't even look up from the book he was reading. They knew each other too well.  
Once again, Edward didn't go to sleep that night while he made frantic scribbles that were supposed to be notes. They were only truly legible to him. He kept working without stopping for anything, until the sun finally rose. He set the pen down and took a deep breath. There was still something missing, no matter how hard he tried to get around it. He sighed, and then pulled out a composition notebook. The papers were a mess, and rewriting it sometimes helped him see something that he hadn't noticed before. It did, but when he fixed one mistake another popped up again, and so on and so forth. The only thing that he really thought came out of it was you could see surfaces again. And, as a distraction and to take his mind off of things, he cleaned the entire place until it shone.  
"Brother? What are you doing?" That wasn't really the question, he knew what he was doing. This had happened before, Ed went through phases if he only ran on caffeine, one of them was becoming a cleaning fanatic. The only thing Al could do was let him burn out.  
"This tub refuses to be clean."  
It was true. When they had started renting the apartment, the tub had refused to look anywhere near decent no matter how long either of them worked on it. Now it practically shone. Al wondered how much time and effort Ed had devoted to the tub, and then decided he didn't want to know. Though it was good that the tub was finally clean looking.  
"But I'll get it that way, if it's the last thing I do. Oh yes, you hear me tub? You will be clean. And there's nothing you can do about it!!!" Ed laughed maniacally, and Al backed out of the room. The laughing was another unfortunate side effect. He thought he would be fine, until he heard knocking on the door. He panicked, what could he do? He couldn't let anyone see his brother this way.  
"Open up Ed, I know you're in there."  
It was Colonel Mustang, Al knew. He did the only thing he could think of.  
"I don't know what you're talking about, there's no one home."  
"Why I oughta... I'll teach you, nasty tub filth!"  
"Al, just open the door before I do it for you. I know he's in there."  
"Come out come out where ever you are... Gotcha! Mwhahahaha! No grime escapes me! Now tell me, where are the others! I know you know something, talk!"  
"He's sick, and I don't want you to get sick either, so please go away."  
"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"  
Roy, fed up with Al's refusal to open the door, transmuted it open.  
"And when I've had my fun with you, I'll move on to the rest of the bathroom, I will. And then, the world!"  
Colonel Mustang, despite Al's protests, decided to check on Edward. He kicked the door open, and Edward, surprised, sprayed him in the face with cleaner while hissing. Almost instantly the young alchemist was being held by the tiles of the room he was cleaning. It seemed as though the young alchemist had gone through a cleaning rampage, nothing was out of order. This had come as quite a shock compared to the chaos he had encountered last night.  
"Al, what happened?"  
"It's nothing, he's just sick."  
"Let me at them! LET ME AT THEM! I'll show them who's boss, they won't even know what hit him! It'll be like BAM! and the germs are _gone_."  
"Germs?" Roy fought to keep from laughing. It was just so amusing to see the usually nonchalant alchemist who could almost be mistaken for an adult act so... there really weren't words to describe it. "I'm surprised you haven't taken him to a mental hospital."  
"It'll wear off, eventually. Hey, can you do me a favor? There's a white, unlabeled jar on the counter next to the kettle. Can you take it with you when you leave? I'd hide it, but he always knows when I'm lying."  
"That is the cause of all this? What is it exactly that's in that jar?"  
"Oh nothing, just do it, ok?"  
"Sure. Do you have this?"  
"Yeah... I'll just let him finish washing the tub... Sorry about him spraying you with the cleaning stuff. Do you think it will bleach your uniform?"  
"Nah, it'll be fine. It was nice talking to you, Al."  
"You too Colonel."  
Al was half tempted to just leave his brother there, where he couldn't hurt himself, but let him go anyway. He frantically began scrubbing the now spotless tub. It was odd seeing it this clean. It wasn't until hours later that Edward finally crashed. On the upside, the house was perfectly spotless. Edward had scrubbed every surface he could get to, even some that he couldn't. He looked at his brother who had fallen on the floor in the kitchen and moved him to his bed. It would be a while before he woke up. In fact, it wouldn't be until noon the next day. During that time, Roy had no idea what to do with the jar of white powder.  
He had never seen anything like it before, so Ed must have developed it. It didn't taste like anything he had ever come across, and it didn't have any explosive properties, it didn't appear to have any valuable use. Still, Al was rather concerned with it so it must have some kind of use... he kept it on his desk with the lid open and every time someone asked he gave them a different answer as to what it was, making it look like he knew what it was and scaring some people at the same time. It also amused him to no end hearing the staff whisper about it. So maybe it wasn't completely useless as was.  
When Ed finally showed up, looking like hell, I might add, he had the attention of the entire staff. There was a rumor going around that the powder had come from him, as they knew Roy had come back with it only after going after Edward. It was the only logical explanation.  
"Hey Ed, what's in the jar?"  
"What jar?"  
"You know, the one in the Colonel's office."  
"Is it white with white powder in it?"  
"Yes."  
"Has he ever told any of you what it actually is?"  
"No..."  
Edward laughed, only this time it was somewhat normal. "You'll find out soon enough."  
"Where were you yesterday?"  
"Oh, I got caught up in some research. I'm going to go get this over with now."  
"Good to have you back, pipsqueak. How's ridding the world of germs going?"  
"Just fine. What's that?"  
"Don't play stupid with me, you know exactly what that is."  
"Never seen it before in my life. Some thing you wanted to talk to me about?"  
"I've got another mission for you, and this time Al can't come. I'm sorry, but he simply wouldn't blend."  
"What is it?"  
"You've been asked to protect a certain person, the rest is top secret. All I can tell you is that it will be very far away from home, and that you'll have to go to school."  
Edward hadn't gone to school, his mother had chosen to home school him. This was most certainly going to be a change.  
"I'll go, if you _promise_ to look after Al, and make sure he's not lonely. Oh, and give him a kitten and I'll make sure _you're_ the one taking care of it."  
"Fair enough. I'll contact them and let them know you can do it. That is, if you have time to take off from interrogating scum."  
"You know what they say."  
"What?"  
"Karma's a bitch."  
Edward left Roy to ponder what he meant, while his plan was already in motion. First, he had to stop by the coffee room. He didn't leave, not yet. He had a few other scores to settle, and an apology in advance.  
"Hawkeye, I have to tell you something, but not here. Come with me."  
She was confused as to why he had chosen her to help with what she was sure was a diabolical plan, but went with him anyway.  
"Don't drink anything here, ok?"  
"What? Fullmetal, what did you do?"  
"You can't tell anyone, and I apologize in advance, but just don't do it, ok?"  
"This is some plan to get the Colonel back, isn't it?"  
"Of course, what else would it be? But if you tell anyone, you'll regret it."  
Not quite sure what he was talking about, she nodded. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. "Why are you telling me?"  
"I have my reasons," he said cryptically. The real reason was that he wouldn't be able to look her in the face seriously after all of this was said and done if she did.  
"Edward, the Colonel is looking for you."  
"Thanks. Remember what I said."  
She nodded, and Ed went off to meet with the royal pain.  
"What was that all about?"  
"I have no idea."  
"I never dismissed you."  
"That's ok. What do you want?"  
"I wanted to tell you that you'll be leaving tomorrow, so make sure your bags are packed. I do have a question for you though."  
"What?"  
"What did you mean when you said karma's a bitch?"  
"Oh nothing, it's just a truth. Am I dismissed?"  
Roy nodded and Ed left with a smirk on his face, he was going to regret not being there to see all the action. He almost felt bad for Mustang, almost, but not quite. After all, he did deserve it. He hunted down his repair kit for his limbs, and then flipped through his composition books for the ones that were most important, and then he had to weed through those. On top of that there was a matter of his books, and then his clothes. By the time he was done his suitcase was about to pop open, if he hadn't sealed it with alchemy. Even so, it was ready to burst. Al came in in about the middle of the sealing process, when Ed was sitting on the case and trying to seal it from above.  
"Ed, where are we going?"  
"I'm not really that sure, but you can't come this time. I have to be able to blend."  
"But we always go on missions together."  
"I know,but we can't this time I don't like it any more than you do, but I have to keep this job. If he tells me to do another one I'll refuse, but I don't think it will happen."  
"If you say so..."  
"Aw, cheer up Al. It's not like you'll be all alone, I made the Colonel promise to keep you company."  
"Really? He agreed to that?"  
"Yup."  
"Then I suppose I'll be fine."  
Ed bound the entire mess that he called a suitcase a little more securely, not quite sure that it would hold. However, there wasn't much more he could do about it at the moment, it had been packed as efficiently as it was possible, and he didn't want to haul around two suitcases to god knows where. Hell, it was bad enough having one. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure how long he would be without his things and he couldn't exactly just come back to fetch them. He sighed. It would be near impossible to get to anything the way it was packed. He made a mental note to make just a tiny bit of the powdered caffeine after he left, but in the mean time he was going to sleep as much as he could before he met with the person who he was going with, whoever that was. It was kind of odd that the mission was so secret that even Mustang was not allowed in on the details yet. He crashed as soon as his head hit the pillow, not quite recovered from the entire week he went with little or no sleep. He really should stop doing that.  
"Ed, you need to wake up. You're due to be in HQ in half an hour."  
Ed sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily, trying to shake off the sleepy feeling. He knew he was now perfectly rested, as he had gotten this down to an almost exact science. He dressed quickly and said good bye to Al, promising to write, and headed down to the office. He smirked when he saw the effects of what he had done start to manifest themselves, in some places more than others. All in all, things were beginning to fall in place quite nicely. Mustang couldn't kill him if he wasn't here. The Colonel was pacing his office relentlessly, and Ed had to hide a smirk. Operation caffeinate the office was just warming up.  
"What the hell did you do?" the Colonel questioned, already having guessed that Ed was somehow behind it. How though, he had no idea. It was driving him nuts. That, and not being able to figure out what the mysterious powder was.  
"I don't know what you're talking about."  
The Colonel snapped his fingers, sending fire in Edward's direction. His smirk became more pronounced. "When I figure out what you've done... you'll wish you had never been born," Roy promised. Ed could see the first stage already manifesting itself. This was going to be interesting.  
"Good luck with that, you don't even know whether or not I'm the one behind all this. It could just be karma."  
"My ass it is, this is all your fault. Once I figure out what you did, you will regret it. The FULL WEIGHT OF THE ENTIRE MILITARY WILL BE BANGING ON YOUR DOOR!!! MWHAHAHAHAHA!!!"


	2. Chapter 2

Ed looked at the Colonel like he was crazy, which was pretty accurate. Maybe he should have given Riza a little bit more of a warning. At this rate, the sooner he got out of this the better. The Colonel was going crazy faster than he had anticipated. Maybe he had grown a little bit of a resistance to its effects. Yeah, he needed to lay off of it for a while. Roy looked like he had a little trouble regaining his composure, and glared at Edward hatefully. However, he was distracted when there was a knock on the door. He went to answer it, never taking his eyes off of Edward, and then finally looked at the person who had disrupted their meeting. A man dressed in purple robes with moons and stars on them caught both of their attention. The unusually dressed man stepped past him and closed the door.  
"You must be Colonel Roy Mustang and Major Edward Elric. My name is Albus Dumbledore, I'm here to read you in, if that's the right term. I haven't quite got all of this unusual terminology down just yet."  
"That's the right term."  
"There is a dangerous criminal on the loose, and he is after two of our students. We have asked that Mr. Elric provides the proper protection without being noticed. While the criminal himself isn't likely to make an appearance himself, he may try to send others to do his dirty work, possibly including other students. Are you still willing to come?"  
Babysitting? That was what he was being asked to do? Edward nodded curtly, and Albus smiled and clapped his hands.  
"I assume that is your luggage? Will you kindly grab it, and then we can be on our way."  
Edward locked his eyes with the Colonel's, and in a deeply serious voice said, "Don't forget your promise." He grabbed his case, and then looked at Albus.  
"Take my arm, if you will."  
Edward complied to the unusual request, and they were transported to a rather imposing looking castle.  
"What the..."  
"Sorry I couldn't warn you about that before, but we have our reasons for our secrecy. If you would follow me."  
Albus led Edward to his office, which was filled all sorts of things that were clinking and spinning, none of which Ed could even begin to guess the use of. Albus took a seat behind his desk and gestured for Edward to take the seat directly in front of him, and filled him in on the more delicate details of the mission. The long and short of it was that a man called Voldemort, who's real name was Tom Riddle, was after a student named Harry, to get rid of the only thing that could possibly defeat him. This was all based on a prophecy made by one of the teachers here, which all of them took very seriously. The catch, this was a school for witches and wizards. At first he wanted to think that he was completely mental, but Colonel Mustang trusted him, and as much as he hated the Colonel, he had to trust his judgement, that, and the glaring evidence that he was even here. Magic, as illogical as it was, was the only logical explanation.  
"You'll be joining them in the Griffindor house, and all of your classes will match Harry's. As for your inability to use magic, we'll just figure it out as we go along. Any questions?"  
"I think this is something that is more hands on than just asking questions, but what are the rules?"  
Of course, Edward was just asking this so that when he did break them, like he knew he would, he would know better than to get caught.  
"The usual of those of a school, you are exempt to rules pertaining to curfew and the restricted section in the library," Albus handed Edward a pass, and then tried to remember anything else he needed to be told. He assumed that Ed would be able to find his charge on his own, and he had already explained everyhting else that needed to be explained it seemed. "Off you go then, dinner is just about to start."  
Ed went directly to the halls, having done his fair share of memorizing maps this had been no problem for him. Students were just beginning to pour in, and somehow he managed to slip into the crowd, a little annoyed that he blended in so well because of the strict dress code. Even still, all he had done was traded his bright red coat for the robe, not bothering to switch out anything else. Nor was he willing to, he hated dress codes with a passion, almost as much as he hated milk. He slipped in with the crowd and somehow managed to get a seat relatively near Harry and friends, as he had nicknamed them for the moment. Names weren't anything really of consequence.  
"First years are supposed to be sorted right now," a girl with bushy brown hair informed him.  
"I'm not a first year," he informed her, a tad coldly. He was only trying to be nice so he could get into the tightly knit group for Harry's own protection, but he was not known for his patience. "I'm a sixth."  
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you. I'm Hermione Granger, this is Ron Weasely, and this is Harry Potter."  
"Edward Elric," he said. Already, without really trying, he had made his way onto Harry's good side as he hadn't asked any questions about his scar or gaped like a fish. Then again, Harry couldn't quite picture this kid gaping like a fish. Though he looked like a little kid, maybe because of his stature? he seemed like an adult at the same time. It was a very odd combination to say the least.  
"I don't think I've seen you here before."  
"I'm new, got into my powers a little late."  
"Oh, which classes do you have?"  
Ed pulled out the copy of the schedule the headmaster had given him, the only reason he had it on him was for this express purpose. He already had the thing memorized.  
"Oh, you have the same as Harry. I'm sure he wouldn't mind showing you around, right Harry?"  
"Sure."  
It sounded rather noncommittally, but it was a good start. After dinner and the speeches, the students were sent to bed. Ed was a little glad, he had been aching to get back to his books for a while now. He also wanted to get settled in, establish his space and that. He followed the others back to the dorms, careful not to lose sight of his charge. Mustang would kill him if he did. Hell, who was he kidding. Mustang was going to kill him no matter what he did now, after the stunt he pulled with the caffeine. For a second he wondered if they had found the source yet, and then decided that they hadn't. They were smart, but he hadn't hidden it in only one place, and eventually Havoc was bound to find the supply Edward had hidden. Yeah, karma was most certainly a bitch.  
"You're with us? Welcome mate, and congratulations. You get to bunk with the ever so fabulous Ronald Weasley."  
"I'm the lucky one? No sir, it is you who is privileged to have the magnificent Edward Elric in your presence," he joked back.  
"Holy hell, what do you have in there? That thing looks about to burst!"  
Thankfully, the headmaster was kind enough to fix his luggage so he would not have to use alchemy to open it, but all the same he was a little scared to open it. There would be a minor explosion, but he had no choice. Remembering how hard it had been to shove everything in there, he rested his elbows on it to keep his things from going absolutely everywhere. He closed his eyes and cracked it open, not sure what to expect. No one was killed, so he let out a sigh and let the lid flip onto the floor on its own accord. His things lay there in the perfect pile he had arranged them in to keep them from spilling over. He didn't miss the rather large stack of textbooks that lay next to his bed for him to study.  
"Thankfully, it didn't."  
He piled the composition books in a corner of the trunk that lay at the end of his bed before moving on with the clothes and his other books, and then finally his textbooks.  
"You're like a guy version of Hermione."  
"Where's your owl?"  
"Owl?"  
"Yeah, to send mail."  
"I don't have one at the moment."  
"You really are new to this, aren't you?"  
"Yeah, pretty much."  
"I'm going to bed. Night Ron, Ed."  
"Me too. Night."  
"Night."  
Edward cracked open a book, and started reading. That's when he noticed he would need a wand as well. Wait, could it be that stick he saw on top of the books? He picked it up off the floor and examined it. It appeared to have a wire wrapped all the way around it, like it was set in the wood. A note was attached to it.  
_I thought this might be the right wand for you, it was custom made and I'm fairly certain it will work. Let me know if it doesn't._  
Ed pulled off the note and and held it in both hands, it felt right, but would it work? It appeared that some people could do magic, and some people couldn't. He wasn't sure which category he fell into. That's when he realized just how tired he was, and moved the books to his trunk and drew the drapes around his bed. There would be time to get all of these things done in the morning, hopefully.  
The next morning he was a little disoriented, waking up in an unfamiliar place was not on his list of favorite thing to do, and it usually involved something being destroyed. This time though, he remembered were he was in time. He breathed a sigh of relief that he was not in some murderer's home, which had happened before. At least here no one was trying to kill him, at least, yet. Give it time, there would be. A fluttering of wings interrupted his thoughts, and he opened the window. An owl came it, and it settled on his arm after he saw the glint of metal on his right hand. It offered a leg with a letter tied to it, and Ed carefully untied it. It appeared the owl problem was solved, this one was officially his, with instructions to let her live in the owlrey. He sighed, another errand, among many, to run. But it shouldn't take that long.  
"Do you always get up at his ungodly hour?" Ron asked, only half awake. "We don't have classes for another hour."  
"Unlike you, I have five grade's worth of material to catch up on. I'll use all the time I can get, thank you very much."  
"Sorry, I guess I forgot. Too early in the morning to be thinking. Harry, you awake yet?"  
There was no reply, and Ron moved aside the drapes.  
"Our first day back and you're already disappearing places," Ron shook his head, and Ed looked alarmed. He hadn't counted on Harry getting up before him. He slammed the book shut, grabbed his clothes, and made for the door.  
"Hey! Where are you going?"  
"To get dressed, and then find him. You don't honestly think I'm going to let him have all the fun do you?"  
"Wait for me!"  
Ed was already annoyed, and the sun wasn't even properly up yet. Yes, Mustang definitely deserved what he had done to him, though maybe it had been a bit overkill. Just a bit.  
"Where do you reckon he's gone?"  
"Don't know, that's what I intend to find out. Unless you have any ideas?"  
"Follow me."  
Harry had snuck off to the library, again. That was where he was currently sleeping, a restricted book under his arm. Normally he left the research to Hermione, but a little extra looking never hurt. Of course, it was the last place that Ron would think to look, so they wound up looking for a long time before Ed decided that Ron had run out of ideas and they went to the first place he would look for anyone, well, second to the bathroom. There were quite a lot of people that he could count on to be there. Of course, Ron was rather shocked to see him there as Harry almost never paid a visit to the library. Ron quickly shook him awake.  
"You can't just sneak off like that," Ed warned when he opened his eyes.  
"Says who?"  
"Says me. You never know what exactly could be lurking the corridors, and you can't be of much use if you're dead, now can you?"  
Just because he got in could mean that others could too, like his father's humonculous. He was beginning to expect that Envy was beginning to figure out something, as people don't just vanish.  
"There's nothing lurking in the corridors, don't you know how many charms this place is protected by?"  
Ed badly wanted to smack him over the head for his insolence, but refrained.  
"What makes you think you can talk to him like that anyway? Are you his keeper now?"  
"That's one way of looking at it. Now come on, let's go get breakfast."  
"What?"  
"Let's go get breakfast. Are you daft?"  
"No, about being Harry's keeper."  
Ed sighed, he really should watch what he said sometimes. "Dumbledore assigned me protection detail for one Mr. Harry Potter. Can we got get breakfast now?"  
"He assigned you to protect me? Like a body guard?"  
"Yup. You don't think it's a coincidence that I'm in all your classes, do you?"  
"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."  
"Just how good are you at hand to hand combat again?"  
"I've got magic, I don't need hand to hand combat."  
"Not true, if someone gets inside of arms length, you're dead. If you really don't believe me, I'll show you later."  
"You're on."  
He might just learn something out of it at very least. In any case, it would help Edward because he might get some idea about how to counter magic without alchemy, which could never hurt. After helping Harry they put back the books, and then finally made their way to breakfast. Hermione watched him as they talked about what Ed had told them  
"So you're going to have a duel of sorts?"  
"Poor kid, doesn't know what he's getting into. I almost feel bad for him."  
Ed smirked, there was no question as to who was going to win. Harry seemed to think he was invincible, but Edward was about to change that notion. It was dangerous to think of yourself that way, and he knew that was often how people got killed, look at Dante. At least she had reason to think she was invincible, Harry had none. The first free block they had they went out to the edge of the forest, where there was plenty of material to work with, if Ed chose to. He didn't though, as he didn't want to give away his alchemy just yet. They stood a couple yards away from each other, Ed in a fighting stance and Harry with his wand trained on him. Then it began. Harry fired off a stunning spell, but Ed dodged it easily and kept coming closer. Harry was now firing off spells as quickly as he could, but Ed was always one step ahead of him and anticipated his moves. Really, Harry was so predictable. Within a minute Ed had his hands around Harry's neck.  
"I told you."  
"Point taken."  
By this point quite a few people had come to see the fight, including Draco Malfoy.  
"It's all show, I bet he couldn't take me. Everyone knows Potty can't do real magic."  
"You wanna go, Malfoy? Because it seems to me that you're all talk and no show."  
Malfoy glared maliciously, and made his way to the place Harry had originally been standing. As soon as he got there, he began to attack, thinking he would have the upper hand. What he didn't know was that Edward was trained for this, and attacked as soon as the wand was raised. Draco did manage to hit him, just once, and came forward to make fun of him. Neither of them knew that the spells didn't effect his automail though, and Ed discovered that last minute. Whatever helped him win though. As Draco came forward he put him in a headlock while still trying to battle the effects of the paralysis. Eventually he overcame it, and Draco lost.  
"You cheated."  
"How?"  
Draco didn't really know, he just knew that there was something odd about the boy. Normal people couldn't move like that, he didn't like it. But more than that, he found himself wishing he had gotten to him before Potter had. The crowd, seeing as there wasn't going to be any more fighting, dispersed.  
"How did you do that?"  
"What?"  
"Make yourself able to move so quickly. No one is able to do it that fast."  
"I don't know, luck I guess. Now if you excuse me, I've got homework and research to do."  
Edward started walking away, limping slightly. The curse had still not entirely worn off.  
"He's starting on homework, now? Damn, he is just like Hermione."  
They started walking to catch up with him, which wasn't hard because of his limp.  
"What are you researching?" Hermione asked. As of yet, this kid wasn't making much sense and she didn't like things that didn't make sense. Normally people that could fight like that weren't interested in books.  
"Right now, magic. I want to know how it works."  
"That will take years of research." She would know, she had tried to do it once. She couldn't make heads or tails of some of it, and then there were some pieces that were just plain missing.  
"Well then I better get started, huh? Maybe if we both worked on it I might be able to finish it sooner rather than later."  
"I'll help you only if you tell us exactly why you're here."  
"Deal."  
They wound up back in the Griffindor common room, Ed's notes in tow. He didn't nearly all of them, just the ones he wanted Hermione to read through once he finished explaining because he thought it would help.  
"All right, I suppose it would be better if I explained first. I was sent here by my boss, Colonel Mustang, after Dumbledore requested that someone was sent to protect you."  
"You're in the military?"  
"Major Edward Elric."  
"But you're so young..."  
"Doesn't matter. Harry, he explained to me all about the mission he asked you to do, and I'll help with that as well. I've never preformed magic, I'm not even sure if I can.  
"Then why are you so interested in how it works?"  
"A long time ago, I made a mistake, using alchemy. Have you heard of it?"  
"Only in fairytales about turning lead into gold. I never belieived it, I always thought it was a myth."  
"Where I come from, alchemy evolved instead of magic, like this one did. It uses energy from the other side of the gate to do this."  
"Ok, you lost me."  
Ed took a piece of paper and sketched one of the most basic circles he knew, and placed a sharp of broken glass he had found on the floor on it.  
"Using this circle, I can manipulate the energy to turn this piece of glass into something else." He pressed the circle, and the piece of glass turned into a miniature replica of Harry. "One of the most basic rules of this is equivalent exchange, to get something you must first give something up. I gave up the shape of this piece of glass to get a new one. Since matter can be neither created nor destroyed, I can't make it any more or less of what it originally was, all I can do is change it. It works the same way with energy. This kind of manipulation isn't compatible with my natural life force, so I have to pull it from somewhere else. I'm not quite sure, but it seems that this place is not quite a separate world from England, just attached, so I'm not quite sure how it works here, but where I come from, Amsteris, there's another world that is parallel to it, the difference is that on my side alchemy evolved and on the other technology did. In between them there is a gate, which is where the energy passes through. It is also the gate of truth, anyone who looks at it gets incredible knowledge. Through the gate I can direct energy into what I want. Still following?"  
Ron and Harry had given up trying to understand what he was talking about, but Hermione nodded.  
"One thing that shouldn't be done though, is human transmutation, to attempt to transmute a person. That's how this happened," Ed pulled off his shoe and sock, showing them his metal leg. "When my mom died my brother and I attempted to do something very stupid, we tried to bring her back. I lost my leg, and Al lost his body. To get him back I had to sacrifice my right arm, and that's how he's in a empty suit of armor. Both of us nearly died, but that isn't the worst of it. True to the rule, we did get something back, but it wasn't our mother, at the time it didn't even look like her. That's why I'm in the military, to get my brother's body back."  
"That's awful. What happened to the thing?"  
"It wasn't the first thing to be created, and the long and the short of it was that I had to turn it into ethanol." That had been one of the worst moments in his life, and he struggled to keep his head in the present. Hermione gasped in horror. "There are more of them out there, and I'm quite a popular target for the few remaining and then a few other people, but we took out the main ones in charge." Dante, Lust, Wrath, Greed... Gluttony and Envy were still out there though, he was pretty sure. He was also pretty sure that they had teamed up. He didn't know if there were any others, but he assumed that they didn't know about him and he had all that he could handle, plus a little extra, on his plate right now. "At least, I'm pretty sure. The whole thing is pretty complicated, and I can't keep track of absolutely everything. So, now I'm here to both protect Harry and take out Lord Moldy Voldy." He bent down to replace his shoe. "Now, my friends, it is your turn. I am, at very least, going to learn how to use magic."  
They only had about 15 minutes to practice before they had to go back to class, so there was a lot of explaining and failed attempts without much to show for it. He wasn't up to letting it go quite yet though. He tried to pay attention in his classes, but there was so much that he had yet to get done. Among a mountain of homework that was in a different language it seemed, he had a report to write and he still hadn't gotten around to reading any of his textbooks. What was worse was that Snape was constantly on his back and trying to get him into detention. He felt about ready to explode under all the stress. Maybe now wasn't the best time to take a break from the caffeine.  
Over the the next week Ed started to feel like he wasn't drowning, and then that the entire thing was entirely too easy. He no longer had to think about any of his classes. There was something going on though, the entire castle seemed to have tensed like it was waiting for something awful to happen. It was nothing tangible, no one knew exactly what was coming, but they knew something was going to happen all the same. Ed didn't really start to worry about it until he heard a tap on the window and a flash of blackish green hair, and he knew if he didn't act soon there were going to be more than a few people dead. He knew that this was what Envy had planned, but he still had to try anyway. He thought he silently slid out of bed and quickly got dressed, but he wasn't the only light sleeper. Harry woke up Ron and they both trailed after the young alchemist, who had transmuted his hand into a sharp blade. Envy led him into the forbidden forest, keeping well out of Ed's knowledge of where exactly he was.  
"Envy, you coward, get over here so I can kick your ass."  
Ghostly chuckling rang through the trees, and both Ron and Harry shivered, as well as Hermione, who caught up with them.  
"This is exactly like you, well, you're not scary. I know your tricks."  
"Don't think that quite yet, I've got a few new ones now."  
The air grew chill, and Ed shivered.  
_Al realizes you were the one that killed you're mom.  
__ No...  
He doesn't ever want to see you again...  
Fuck you Envy, get out of my mind.  
_Dementors circled Edward, and all the other three could do was watch as he wailed out in protest  
_Your mother didn't die of disease. She died because you weren't good enough.  
But my father...  
He left because you were such a disappointment. Did you honestly think that anyone cared about you?  
Al would never leave me.  
Al left you for the same reason  
FUCK YOU ENVY!!!  
_Edward started laughing hysterically as he fought the dememtors, lashing out wildly. This snapped Harry out of his dementor induced depression.  
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!"  
A white stag burst from the tip of his wand and beat back the dementors, which were looking quite a bit more tattered than usual. Both he and Ed collapsed, leaving Ron and Hermione to drag them back to the castle.  
"Right gits they are, making us follow them into some forest with no sense of direction and them passing out on us."  
"Agreed."  
They were quite lucky that Envy had other things to do and hadn't stayed to watch the four of them lose their souls, otherwise they would be dead right now. After an hour or so of dragging them around the forest and still not seeming to get anywhere, Hermione and Ron gave up. They sat down next to a tree, and waited for Harry and Ed to wake up.  
Ed was the first one to come back to the real world, he yawned and sat up. He then blinked and tried to figure out what exactly he was doing in the middle of the woods. Hermione smacked him as hard as she could with a book.  
"Ow, what was that for?"  
"That was for almost getting yourself killed. Now who the hell is Envy?"  
"He's a Homunculi. He kinda wants me dead..."  
"So you follow him in the dead of the night?!?! How stupid are you?!?!?"  
"That would depend on who you ask..."  
Harry moaned at the sound of all the yelling and tried to sit up, but Hermione hit him too.  
"Chill! Seriously! No one is dead!"  
"But you could have been!"  
"It's my job!"  
"It's not your job to get killed!"  
"It's my job to stop other students from getting killed! Or have you forgotten that he will kill without a second thought!?! Right now there are probably being students killed mercilessly, and I have to stop it!"  
"Ed, Wait!"  
Ed was already tearing through the forest as quickly as he could, leaving it up to them as to whether or not they followed him. He marched through the halls, pushing aside people that didn't get out of his way, which most of them did after seeing the expression on his face. He even ignored Snape, barely avoiding the spells that were being thrown at him. He started running at full speed, and then using alchemy to get into Dumbledore's office.  
"Mr. Elric, how lovely of you to join us. This is..."  
"Don't care. Mass murderer on campus. Need to set up circle. No time."  
"I see. Mr. Fudge, you'll have to excuse me for a moment."  
Edward followed Dumbledore on his way to proffesor McGonagall explaining the situation the entire way as quickly as he could.  
"I need to draw a giant transmutation circle, Envy could be anyone. When I finish it he won't be able to step within it's confines without vomiting violently and becoming vulnerable, then we can kill him. Since he could be any of the students they should probably not be alerted, but that's at your discretion. I'm going to ask Hermione to help me, and Harry can cover our backs. Also, I think Envy... fuck, that probably means Gluttony is here too. If you see a fat man dressed in black he can eat anything. I think Envy has teamed up with Voldemort. I'm going to set up that circle... it would probably be a good thing to have Roy here. Ok, leaving sir."  
Edward ran down the halls again, telling Harry, Ron, and Hermione to follow him. They quickly got to work drawing the circle, Ed changing the density of the earth and the others watching his back. Unfortunately, other people had other ideas. Death Eaters swarmed, quickly locating them.  
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Why is it that today anything that could go wrong has?"  
He clapped his hands together and made a wave of Earth wash over them, crushing them to death, and then went back to his alchemy. He only got another section done when Envy showed up with Greed, and Ed was glad that he went with a slightly smaller circle. Of course, when this was all said and done of he was still alive he would have to draw one that surrounded the entire grounds.  
"I see you resisted death, again."  
"Fuck off Envy, no one likes you."  
"You've got quite a mouth for a shrimp."  
Ed full heartedly ignored him and continued to complete the array... he was so close now...  
"You know, I really don't like it when you ignore me, shorty."  
Just once more...  
"I really don't like you either."  
He clapped his hands and was about to lay them on the ground again when Envy sent him sprawling in the dirt. Ed reached out and grabbed his ankles, tripping him. He rolled over and straddled his chest.  
"Harry, this would be a good time."  
Obediently a shot of green light hit Envy, a stunning spell, and he froze. Edward breathed out in relief and finished the circle. If only fighting Envy was this easy every time... He moved Envy into the circle and waited for the spell to wear off.  
"What now?"  
"Now we wait for him to wake up and start puking his guts out, and when he's finished we have a fight during which I win and he dies. You guys should get lost."  
"No way, I want to see this."  
"Suit yourself, but if you get killed it won't be my fault."  
Envy glared at Ed, trying to fight the effects of the circle. Ed placed his hands on it and activated it, and Envy looked to be in some form of extreme pain. Then he exploded, getting all of them covered in guts.

"I thought he was supposed to fight you. Damn, I was looking forward to seeing you two in action."

"Ed? Are you ok?"  
"I think he might be in shock."  
"Well slap him or something!"  
As soon as he did, Edward toppled over like a ton of bricks. The other three students looked at each other.  
"Well, that didn't work."  
"Is passing out when he sees this guy a regular thing?"  
On the ground, Ed started to shake. This wasn't supposed to be how it happened... and now he was covered in souls... all those human souls... they were all over him...  
"I think we should get Prof. Dumbledore."  
Dumbldore was already making his way across the lawn, where Ed still lay shivering. Hagrid was trailing behind him.  
"I think it would be a good idea if he went to see Madam Pomfrey."  
Hagrid obligingly picked him up and carried him to the infirmary, Harry, Hermione, and Ron following them. They had been there more than their fair share of times, and had the feeling Ed was familiar with it as well. This did not prevent him from freaking out when he woke up though.  
"Calm down dear, you're perfectly fine."  
"But, on the lawn... and Gluttony..."  
"Relax, I'm sure all when be explained in it's own time. Here, drink this."  
"What is it?"  
"It's a minor healing potion, for all the scrapes and bruises you have all over. Really young man, what have you been doing to get all of these injuries?"  
"All kinds of things, I'll be fine."  
She gave him a stern glance and then went to check on another student. After drinking the potion Ed flopped back down on the pillow and tried not to think of what had happened. Then he remembered something important.  
"Hey, last night, when I came in. I was covered in all of that gunk, did it get destroyed? Because there was toxic material in there."  
The nurse frowned. "I didn't detect anything toxic in you."  
So the poisonous red water had been seeping into him all night. That was just lovely. If he broke out in the mysterious sickness that had claimed the lives of an entire village and that was the way he died he was going to be pissed as fuck. He had wanted to go out with a bang, not because of some lousy sickness.  
"Ron, Hermione, and Harry should probably be up here then. If they start growing... I don't know how to describe it, shingle? type things on their bodies, we'll all be dead before the day is done, I think. In any case we won't have long."  
"I'll get them in right away. Is there anything else you want to tell us, Mr. Elric?"  
"The patch where we were should be avoided for a while, the plant life can take care of the red water residue, but it wouldn't hurt."  
"Noted. I'll send for Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, and Mr. Weasely immediately."  
A few minutes later they were in the infirmary, along with a very annoyed looking Snape.  
"I thought that you were quite done causing us trouble, but it would appear I was mistaken."  
"What can I say? I'm a haven't even seen the least of it though. What exactly are you doing here?"  
"If you are sick then I'm here to help you, if not, I'm wasting my time. Tell me as much about this sickness as you know."  
"I've only ever seen it once before, it wiped out an entire village. Don't worry, it's not spread by people who are already contaminated, it's spread through red water. I don't exactly know why, but it's highly toxic. The symptoms include something that looks like scales growing over the person's body, and within the day they're dead. It might have something to do with the extremely conductive property of the water, it transfers alchemic energy really well. Oh, plants are able to absorb the water without any side effects to them, if it helps."  
"You are hardly a plant, Mr. Elric. Plants cause much less trouble."  
"The composition books in my trunk might help."  
Ed promptly fell asleep again, not having quite recovered from the emotional damage being covered in Envy's guts had wreaked. While he was sleeping, a letter came in. Madam Pomfrey set it on his bedside table for when he woke up. When he woke up, Ron, Hermione, and Harry were glaring at him. After he noticed this he tried to pretend he was still asleep, but it was too late. He had been caught.  
"I know you're awake, so don't even try to fake it."  
Edward moaned and sat up, facing the stares from his friends.  
"You should have warned us that we could contract some horrible disease!"  
"I did warn you that you could die."  
"Yes, but I thought that at least it would have been something full of action, not of some flu."  
"It's not a flu, it's much worse. In my defense, I didn't know that he would explode either."  
"Who's that letter from?"  
Ed grabbed the mentioned letter and stared at it in horror. This was not going to be, especially as the letter was smoking. Definitely from the Colonel.  
"That's a Howler, better open it quickly."  
"Don't tell me you're more afraid of that thing than the guy who tried to kill us. It won't hurt you, just open it and get it over with."  
"Are you sure that it's physically impossible for it to hurt me? And yes, the Colonel is a thousand times, no, _infinitely_ more scary than Envy. Especially after... I'm fucked."  
"What the hell did you do?"  
"I haven't sent any reports since I got here, I've been too busy."  
"That's it? Then you should have nothing to be afraid of."  
"If I die, tell Al I'm sorry."  
Ed slid his finger under the edge of the letter, and the Colonel's voice filled the room.  
"Fullmetal, you are so lucky that I am busy and can't come to personally kick your ass at the moment. When you do get back though, you can fully expect to go through all five levels of hell, twice, possibly more."  
"That wasn't so bad."  
"He wasn't kidding. If you had been there, you'd know that. Yeah, I'm dead."  
"I don't get it, so you didn't send in some reports. What's so bad about that?"  
"I may have caffeinated him and his entire section for a week, more or less. With enough that none of them will have slept, at all."  
"Where did you get that kind of power? Fred and George would be all over that!"  
"Maybe I'll show you once we're out of here. None of you would have any paper and a pen, would you?"  
Hermione passed them over, and Edward got to work on his report.  
"So what exactly do you have to do for your job?"  
"Depends, first mission I had to liberate a city. This is only my second one."  
"Do you have to kill people a lot?"  
"It's not really a choice, it's kill or be killed. It try to avoid it when I can."  
"I still don't understand why you're so afraid of this guy."  
"He's Snape to the power of 2."  
"Ok, I can see now."  
"And he's not afraid of setting people on fire."  
"Ouch."  
Ed went back to writing his report, which took up a lot of paper. By the time he was done he still wasn't finished and he had 15 pages in front of him. He sighed and stretched. Hermione had her nose buried in a book, Harry and Ron were playing some sort of game. Then he noticed the scales growing on Harry's feet. Damn, and he was hoping that somehow they wouldn't get sick. He moved his covers over to see if he had the same problem, and he did. Madam Pomfrey noticed the movement and came over to check on them.  
"Oh my."  
This drew the others' attention as well, and as it would turn out they all had it. She called for Snape, who examined the tissue frowning.  
"I must admit, Mr. Elric, you have successfully made more trouble than anyone else I have ever met. Attracting mass murderers, spreading disease... Even more than Mr. Potter, though not by much."  
"Don't worry, there are more people after my head. By the time all is said and done there won't be any question as to who is better at it."  
"It's not exactly hard to see how easily you are able to attract enemies."  
Snape was none too gentle poking around any of them, though it was easy for him to pretend he didn't mind after having his leg and arm put in. He grit his teeth when Snape took samples. Snape whisked out of the room as soon as he was done, leaving them to themselves. Ed got back to work on his report, then decided he was tired of writing. He started transmuting things, stray scraps of paper, the sheets...  
"You said earlier that you needed a circle to transmute things."  
"Not if you've seen that gate."  
Ron absently enchanted the paper people into animation, watching them walk around the end of his bed and occasionally fall off. He snickered as one beat the other one upside the head. Ed made one that was shaped like Roy and controlled it, making it snap its fingers at the others and then spiral into depression as nothing happened. Ron enchanted it to keep relatively in character, and it was amusing until he figured out how to create fire using some other scraps of paper and burnt the other ones, and then stood laughing.  
"That's pretty damn accurate."  
Ron laughed. "That's your boss I take it?"  
"Yup."  
Some knocking on the door interrupted them, and Madam Pomfrey opened it to reveal a rather annoyed Colonel. Edward screamed in alarm as Roy shot some fire, which barely missed him.  
"What the _hell_ were you thinking!?! First you drugged my entire staff, and then you almost got yourself _killed_! Give me one reason why I shouldn't _roast you alive._"  
"I can explain sir! Just please! Don't kill me!"  
Ed fell out of his bed trying to get away from him, and frantically looked for something to transmute to get away from the mad looking Colonel, who had him cornered.  
"What the hell happened to your foot?"  
Now that he was more concerned than murderous, Ed allowed the Colonel to help him up and get him back into his bed. Ed quickly explained all that had happened quickly.  
"And then Envy exploded, and we all got showered in his guts. The stone juice is what's to blame for this."  
"Who?"  
"He was one of the ones that was looking for me to create the philosopher's stone."  
"Son of a bitch, even though he's dead he's still trying to kill you. Too bad he'll have to wait until after I'm done. What the hell did you do to my staff?"  
"Well, it's kind of a long story..."  
"You're running out of time."  
"I put a lot of caffeine in the beverages in the lounge."  
"That's what drove my entire staff _insane_?"  
"Yeah... anything interesting happen?"  
"My staff has lost all respect for me over your little stunt, and _you are going to pay._"  
Ed smirked. "You've got to admit, it was pretty ingenious."  
"That's what was in that jar, wasn't it?"  
"Yup."  
"No wonder Al told me to keep it away from you. It's dangerous."  
"Yes, but if used properly it can keep you awake for an entire month."  
"You would test that, wouldn't you?"  
"I'm a scientist, what do you expect?"  
"That stuff is to be _destroyed_ if I ever see it again, you are dead. Understood?"  
"Yes sir."  
Ed took this as the Colonel wasn't aware that Havoc still had some, which meant that Havoc probably hadn't found it yet. Ron had hardly contained the laughter that was threatening to burst forth, and this last threat was the last straw. The other three of them started laughing like it was the funniest thing they had ever heard, and Mustang turned on them.  
"You find this funny?"  
"No sir," they said in unison.  
Snape chose this moment to enter the room, and raised an eyebrow at the scorch marks near Ed, but didn't comment.  
"You must be Colonel Mustang," Snape said. "My name is prof. Snape."  
"Status report."  
Snape raised an eyebrow, but did not question the Colonel's authority. "It's spreading rather quickly, though it's not quite fatal yet. I wanted to give them a potion I believe will cure them."  
He passed goblets to the entire group, and it tasted quite disgusting. He then started rubbing a paste on it that made it burn and itch, but he didn't hear a word of complaint.  
"So Envy is working with Voldemort?"  
"Yes, when I was working on the circle they both showed up."  
"Where are they? I need to interrogate them."  
"He kind of squished them."  
"You killed the only people that could give us leads?"  
"I didn't really have a choice."  
The miniature Roy was now trying to set Ron on fire.  
"Ow!"  
This caught the attention of everyone in the room, and Ed slapped his hand to his face. This was not going to be good.  
"What. Is. That?"  
"It's nothing," Ron said, trying to hide it. "Ow!"  
"Nothing doesn't hurt people."  
"Might as well hand it over, Ron."  
Ron picked up the miniature Roy, which was none to pleased, and passed it over to the source of inspiration.  
"Not bad, not bad. Ed, I _order_ you to survive this, do you understand?"  
"Yes sir. I do have a question for you though, how's Al doing?"  
"He's fine."  
"Good."  
"I need to get back to HQ, don't get yourself killed. By the way, I'm sending in someone to help you."  
Roy walked out, Snape leaving at the same time.  
"I can see why you are so afraid of him."  
"I'm not really that afraid, I piss him off on a near daily basis. Just normally it's not that to that degree."  
"Who do you think he's sending in?"  
"Dunno. We'll just have to wait and see I guess."


	3. Chapter 3

As it would turn out, he did not have to wait long. She was already on the grounds, getting hopelessly lost while trying to find her dormitory so she could set her stuff down. She sighed, and then decided to just wander around until she found someplace useful. She really shouldn't even be here, but it was complicated, so she was. She was not fond of the robes though, which was why she was wearing them over jeans and a black t shirt. She caught a couple of stairs, but ignored them in favor in finding that hospital wing or dormitory, which ever she found first. Why did she always have such a problem navigating schools? It wasn't until a long time after, several hours, that she finally made it to her dorm. She set her suitcase full of clothes down, preferring to have the backpack with her, and tried to find her way to the hospital wing. As soon as it was dinnertime she gave up and headed to the main hall. She was _hungry_ and here she couldn't afford to eat people, so the headmaster was compensating for that with some kind of potion. As a vampire, she preferred real people, but she would have to make due. Her human side, as she was a half vampire, needed normal food. She went down and chatted with a few people while she ate, trying to pretend that she wasn't here drinking some kind of freaking substitute. And not only that, but now she owed the potions teacher, as he had prepared this for her. At least she was able to get away from Roy, taking care of people wasn't really her thing and he and the boy who was staying with him had needed it, the boy was really codependent, which didn't help things. Hopefully she had taught him to be a little more of a independent person, but she doubted she really made a difference. After dinner she went up to her bed and studied until midnight, when she finally went to bed. As a half vampire she really didn't need that much sleep either, which was another plus.  
The next day was Saturday, and she decided she would find the Infirmary. It took a long time, but eventually she found it, and in it, the person she was about to beat over the head. Roy had told her last night that he was the one who had made her life temporarily hell, and for that, he was going to pay. She glared at him.  
"Are you Edward Elric, also known as Fullmetal Alchemist?"  
"Yes..."  
"Then you're the one responsible for how Roy's been acting! Do you know how hard it is to take care of that man! You've made my life hell for the past month! And then taking care of the other kid too!"  
"Hey Ed, who is this?"  
"I have no idea, never seen her before in my life."  
"Damn, you're way better at making enemies than I am."  
"Hah! They're just jealous at my amazing..." he fell asleep immediately when Sunshine put her hands on him.  
"God, I thought he would never shut up. Now why are you all in the infirmary?"  
The whole story came out, and Sunshine nodded. Ron and Harry looked at their friend in horror.  
"Blimey, what did you _do_ to him?"  
"I drained his energy, he's perfectly fine. For the moment at least. When he wakes up I'm going to beat the tar out of him."  
"You're just a girl, what could you possible..." he noticed her smirk and shut up. It was kind of scary.  
"You'd be surprised. So tell me Harry, how ready do you think you are to take on the Dark Lord?"  
When Ed woke up he felt well rested, but the crazy ass bitch was gone. "What the hell happened?"  
"Sunshine put her hands on you and you passed out."  
"Who?"  
"You know, the crazy blonde."  
"Oh, right. Where'd she go?"  
"Beats me. She interrogated us like the Spanish Inquisition and left."  
After Snape came up to check on them, he declared them fit to leave and they wasted no time getting back into normal clothes, no robes for Ed, and finding Sunshine. She was on the lawn near the lake, flicking her wand at something annoyedly.  
"I told you to levitate! Windgardium Leviosa!" The book obediently rose, and Sunshine sighed. "Now that wasn't so hard was it? Oh, hello."  
"So you're the one who was sent by Colonel Mustang to help us? Aren't you a little... small?"  
"I'm more capable than I look, isn't that right Ed?" Ed shivered at the memory. It had been a little scary how she was able to make him fall asleep that quickly. "So we've got some Horcruxes to destroy, right? It would probably be good if Ed and I got better at magic, and we can teach you hand to hand combat."  
"I hardly think..."  
"If anyone gets within arm's reach of you, you're dead. You're not of much use if you're dead, now are you?"  
"Ok, I see your point," Harry interrupted Ron again before he even got the chance to speak.  
"Come on Ed, let's show them how it's done."  
"I don't think I can hit you..."  
"That's incredibly weak... though it makes sense as you are a shrimp."  
"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?!?!"  
Ed launched himself at Sunshine, who dodged him and sent a punch to his face, which he ducked and then used his leg to knock her leg out from under her. He aimed a punch to her face, but she rolled away and stood. She managed a blow to his stomach with her foot, and he tried to aim a punch to her face, but she grabbed his arm and flipped him. He rolled the two of the over, and she braced her feet against him and pushed, making him fly back before she jumped up. She pretended to punch him, and then at the last moment feigned and roundhouse kicked him to the face. He caught her foot and tried to turn her onto the ground, but she flipped and landed on her feet and quickly directed a blow to the chest. After she successfully knocked the wind out of him, she twisted his left arm behind his back and held him still. When it was clear that he couldn't get free, she let him go.  
"Not bad, not bad at all."  
"Where the hell did you learn to fight like that?"  
She shrugged. "You're turn Ron."  
"What? Are you crazy? No way."  
"Don't make me taunt you."  
Ron reluctantly moved to stand in front of her, awkwardly holding his hands in a fist.  
"Thumb on the outside, that way when you punch something nothing will get broken. Legs spread a little, one slightly in front of the other. When you punch, turn your body slightly, like this. Good. Harry, Hermione, you paying attention?"  
The afternoon passed like this, Sunshine and Ed trying to teach them how to fight, and students gathered around to watch. This made Ron nervous, so he didn't do as well as Sunshine knew he could, but after a little taunting he ignored them and managed to land a hit. This boosted his confidence, and he did much better. Of course, some of those hits she allowed to land, but he wasn't going to get anywhere if he didn't feel like he could do it. Harry did slightly better, he wasn't as afraid of getting hurt. By lunch they had the basics down, and quite the collection of bruises.  
"I may not be able to move tomorrow."  
"Psh, that's nothing. You should have seen me when I first started my apprenticeship."  
"You should count yourselves lucky, the both of us went easy on you."  
"Then we're going to teach you magic."  
"I almost forgot, we have a DA meeting tonight."  
"DA?"  
"Dumbledore's army, we don't find the DADA class sufficient, so we started our own. It's secret though, would you like to attend tonight?"  
"Sure, why not."  
"I'm in. Sunshine, one thing confuses me. Why haven't I ever seen you in the office?"  
"You honestly think you'd see an undercover agent? I'm invisible."  
"Undercover?"  
"Fuck yes, it's complicated, but I'm everywhere at once. You think you see me, but you don't. I'm so good you only think you do."  
They stared at her like she was crazy, but she ignored it. After all, it was something that she had gotten used to it, she had to. She took another drink of the blood substitute and set the glass down, making a face.  
"What is that?"  
"That's a trade secret." She finished it, and then set down the empty glass. She really did have to remember to thank the potions teacher. "Hey, who's the potions teacher?"  
"Prof. Snape? Why?"  
"I have to thank him, he did me a favor making me this."  
"Wow, that's a first. Having a reason to thank Snape. That's almost as rare as..."  
"As what, Mr. Potter?"  
Harry sweat dropped and quickly tried to cover up his mistake. In the end he decided it would be better if he just shut his mouth.  
"Enjoying the potion I made you, miss..."  
"Sunshine. Yes, I appreciate you making it for me."  
"Teacher's pet," Ron murmured. Snape smacked him upside the head.  
"It's not often that students appreciate my work."  
Snape walked away, leaving the students to enjoy their meal. Sunshine sighed.  
"I still can't believe that I've never seen you before, anywhere."  
"I told you, I'm way undercover. According to the records, I don't even exist. You should count yourself lucky that you work for Roy, or else I wouldn't be here. Now were we going to do spell work or what?"  
"You know Roy?"  
"Of course."  
By this time they were nearly to the common room. Hermione set up some basic spells, which they worked at for a very long time. By they, I mean Sunshine and Ed. Hermione was trying to teach them, and Ron and Harry were playing a game of wizard's chess. Harry was winning, which was not that unusual. Normally the two were equally matched.  
"I can't believe that we have double potions first thing in the morning."  
"You're telling me. Hey Sunshine, what's your schedule look like?"  
"Same as your's Ron. I'm assigned to protect you."  
"Like a body guard? That's bloody awesome. Draco will soon learn not to pick on me."  
"I'm not going to help you if you're picking fights."  
"I thought you were supposed to protect me."  
"My orders were to not let you die. It might do you some good to go back to the infirmary for a while."  
Sunshine laughed while Ron blanched, and then went back to practicing.  
"So you are both part of the military where you come from?" Hermione asked, directing the conversation away from Ron. He gave her a thankful glance.  
"Yeah, I'm Fullmetal Alchemist, or Major Edward Elric."  
"Psh, I don't need titles. My codename is Sunshine."  
"Codename? Than what's your real name?"  
"That's top secret. Sorry, it exposes a few too many secrets and I don't want to be run out of town, again."  
"You were run out of town?"  
"Yup, not a fun experience. Then again, I guess I deserve it. That's a conversation for another time, so do you have any idea where what we're searching for might be?"  
"Speaking of conversations for another time..."  
"Sorry."  
"Ok, I'm tired of this. Ed, can I have a look at those books?"  
"Sure, let me go get them."  
Edward left to get the books, but what he didn't know was that the entire time Sunshine was planning revenge. Ron noticed this look on her face, knowing it so well from his brothers.  
"Still bent on revenge?"  
"Hells yeah. Any ideas?"  
"A few... but most of them are against school rules... not that you seem to care."  
"I won't get caught."  
Once they reached a decision, they waited until midnight to start. Sunshine drained enough energy that he wouldn't wake up, and Ron put some duct tape over his mouth. When he didn't move they considered it safe, and threw a dark cloth over him. Sunshine manipulated the shadows to cover them, and by some miracle they dragged him down to the lake, where they blew up the air mattress. Once Ed was on and the blankets transmuted to the sides so he wouldn't fall off, they pushed him out. It was much easier to sneak back to bed, and then catch a few hours of sleep. When they woke up the next morning they pretended that nothing happened. It was hard not to miss though, and they both knew that eventually someone was going to comment on it.  
"Hey, where's Ed?" Harry asked on their way to class.  
"I'm not assigned to watch him, only Ron." Sunshine tried to hide her laughter, and Ron did an even worse job. Hermione shot them both looks.  
"What did you do?"  
"You'll see, he's fine."  
About this time Ed woke up, and tried to scream. Unfortunately, there was duct tape over his mouth. They had wedged him so tightly between the blanket and the mattress so tightly he couldn't move, and he growled in frustration.  
"You shouldn't do that, what if you get caught?"  
"We won't get caught."  
In a desperate attempt to get free, Ed managed to loosen the blanket from the mattress to transmute it free, but in the process, flipped it over, sending him into the water. He grabbed the edge of the mattress and hauled himself on to it, swearing revenge. Now that he was soaking wet, he was even more mad than before, and tried to come up with something that would get her back. It wasn't until the middle of potions that he got back, soaking wet and in his pajamas. Snape gave him a look.  
"Mr. Elric, as much as I appreciate you dripping on my floor, kindly get dried off and dressed before coming to my class," Snape said, making you young alchemist give Sunshine a death glare. He didn't know how, but he knew that she was somehow behind it. He turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him and Sunshine and Ron could barely contain their snickering. Snape ignored it and continued with his lesson. The rest of the day Ed would not stop shooting death glares at Sunshine, who would start chuckling slightly. None of them noticed that Harry was acting rather off. Later that night he went to the library, and Ed went with him, taking his bag. It wouldn't hurt to do some research on something he had read in his textbooks, something called the Sorcerer's stone. It sounded kind of like the Philosopher's stone, at least to him, and he was willing to check it out.  
"What are you looking for?" Ed asked as they made their way down.  
"Am I the only one that thinks that Sunshine seems kind of... off? Like the weird potions, the way she can't even give us her real name... I wanted to see if I could find anything to explain it."  
"Why don't you just ask her?"  
"Do you really think she'll answer?" Harry wandered through the aisles, trying to figure out where to start. He would have brought Hermione, but he didn't want to alert them to anything until he was sure.  
"I would, if you asked me," Sunshine said, dropping from a ladder that leaned against a wall, landing neatly on her feet. "I don't like talking about it, but now I see that in order for you to trust me, I'll have is, I'm not entirely human. I'm part vampire, part philosopher's stone, part humongous. My real name is Annabel Elric. You're not going to find my name anywhere in here, I'm one of a kind."  
"You're only part philosopher's stone? As in one that's not complete?"  
"Yes, it's kind of complicated, I was born a human, but our father decided he wanted to make a truly immortal person that was very powerful, a living philosopher's stone so that he and Dante would never have to worry about their souls decomposing, and it would last as long as they did, so they created me. They didn't realize that I wasn't the complete stone though, they thought that one soul's energy, if harnessed properly, would be enough. As you can see, it wasn't. They turned me into a vampire to see if the souls I took when I... um... ate would add to the existing energy so it would replenish, and never run out as well as I would be immortal."  
"You said we're... siblings?"  
Sunshine grinned sheepishly. "Half siblings."  
"That's why you know so much about fighting, because you've had years to study it. It all makes sense now."  
"Yup."  
Ed took a swing at her, but she stepped back before he could hit her out of reflex. He growled and tried again, only to find she was out of his reach every time. He transmuted the floor around her feet to hold her still.  
"Why the hell are you trying to pick a fight?" Harry questioned, confused as to why he was trying to hurt a person who was on their side.  
"You're just like them."  
"Like who Ed, the people that are trying to kill you? I'm not, if anything I'm like you're brother."  
"You're nothing like him!" He punched her in the face, but she held her ground.  
"You think I wanted this? You think I wanted to be used in plot after plot to get power? That I wanted to become undead? If you still want to kill me, just do it. I don't blame you, but you can't judge me for things that were out of my control. And if you're going to do it, do it properly. You'll have to destroy my blood seal."  
"Blood seal?"  
"It connects the soul to a body," Ed answered. "If you destroy it, the soul is destroyed."  
Don't touch her," Harry said. The entire thing was deplorable to him, what had happened to her, and Ed. "She's your sister."  
"Doesn't matter. Come on, you know alchemy, come fight me."  
"No, I don't think so. I don't think you're really going to kill me, so you can let me go any time you like."  
"Are all people of the military this stubborn?" Harry asked.  
"Yes," Sunshine and Ed said in unison. Ed glared at her.  
"Come on, you think just because I'm not there all the time means I don't know everyone? Alex always insists on showing off his muscles, Riza won't let up on Roy doing his paperwork, and Roy is just as stubborn not to. Now are you going to let me go or are we going to be down here all night?"  
It was at this moment that the others had finally caught up with them, Ed pointed his transmuted blade at her while she glared back defiantly.  
"What is going on?" Hermione demanded, but Harry shushed her. Sunshine and Ed hadn't noticed, they were too wrapped up in their own problems.  
"You act like you're so normal, but you aren't. You're..."  
"I'm what Ed? A monster? Then kill me, you know how."  
He lowered his blade and transmuted the floor back before walking away. Tears slid down her face that she had lost another person who she had considered a friend because of what she was.  
"What the hell was that?"  
Ron blanched. "Was this because he woke up on the lake?"  
This made her smile a bit, and she shook her head.  
"I'm going to bed."  
Sunshine left the library and went straight to sleep, trying not to think about what had happened earlier. She considered writing a letter to Roy asking to leave, but decided against it. She said she would do it, so she was going to do it. She rolled over and squeezed her eyes shut and stayed still until she went to sleep. Ed didn't even bother, he immersed himself in research, trying to figure out anything he could about the Dark Lord and horcruxes. There wasn't much, even in the restricted section. He still couldn't get Sunshine out of his mind, she took human lives to sustain her own, but was that really so different from using those on the other side to do alchemy? It was all too confusing. She was too much like his brother, with the seal, an then part like Envy, too. In a way she was what he wanted his mother to be, which threw even more confusing into the mix, not to mention that she seemed like a person and had no control over what had happened. He wished he had never met her, at least, like this. Ron was pestering Harry relentlessly over what had happened, but Harry refused to talk. He knew that if it had been him he wouldn't want anyone to know, and that kind of information was shared only by the people involved. Ron called him a git and rolled over to start snoring, completely forgetting about the entire thing for the moment at least. It wasn't like all of them were going to forget anytime soon though, as the entire thing had been rather serious. Ed was seriously beginning to wish he hadn't accepted this assignment.  
"Ed, aren't you going to eat anything?"  
He shot a glare at Sunshine, and then went back to his reading. "No thanks."  
"You're being ridiculous."  
"I'm not, you're disgusting. That's the end of it."  
Sunshine stood up and left, leaving her half full potion on the table. On the lawn in front of the lake she was sitting, leaning against a tree. Malfoy noticed her and decided that maybe a friendship would not be out of place. He sat next to her. It might come in useful later.  
"Where are your friends?"  
"Probably eating breakfast still. I never caught your name."  
"Draco. I've never seen you here before, I mean, before this year."  
"I'm an exchange student."  
"You and that Elric kid?"  
"I guess."  
"Kind of odd that you both fell in with Potter, hadn't pinned you as part of his fan club. You really believe that rubbish?"  
"What rubbish are you referring to?"  
"Him being the one to defeat the Dark Lord and that. Too bloody arrogant, doesn't have the guts. He'll get killed before he knows what hit him."  
"Can't disagree with that logic, and I am not a part of his fan club. I'm not a fan of anyone, much less my peers."  
"Then why were you showing them how to fight the other day?"  
"Punk thought he could take me, had to show him what's what."  
"And here I thought you were friends."  
"You think you're the only one that can act? I've got to get going, watch your back, Draco," she called over her shoulder while she went to join Ron.  
"Where were you? You ditched."  
"There are other things that I have to do sometimes, not that I particularly like being disgusting. What did I miss?"  
"Nothing much, Hermione bitched at Ed a bit for being so rude. What was with the other night?"  
"Nothing really, don't worry about it."  
"Bull shit, spill."  
"He's pissed at me because of what I am."  
"Enough to kill you over it?"  
"If you tell him I said this imagine the worst death you would wish on a person, and then raise it to the power of ten. That's the way I'll kill you, none of this ever gets repeated."  
Ron shuddered, but nodded. "Ok."  
"When Ed was a kid, he tried to bring his mom back from the dead. It failed, the result was a creature that was bent on killing them. He lost his arm and leg, his brother almost died. I was created in a similar way, only it was on purpose. They killed me, and brought me back to life, only with a few modifications."  
"How do you know all this? I thought you two just met."  
"I'm kind of a part of all of this, it's complicated. Tell him, or anyone else, and I'll have _Snape _help me torture you. Believe me, this is no idle threat either."  
"It makes sense now, at least. I thought you two were fighting for the hell of it or something."  
"I don't fight for the hell of it, I don't do anything, for the hell of it. I always have a reason."  
They entered the Potions room, Sunshine taking her place between Ron and Ed as she was assigned. Ed infinitesimally moved away from her, but she ignored it. At this point, it seemed to be working to their advantage, as Draco appeared to know something, and they never would have talked if not for Ed's grudge.  
"Today we'll be making vertisam, a truth serum. Instructions are on the board, I suggest you get to work."  
Snape was rather pleased with his plan to embarrass or fail the students, depending on how well they made the potion. It was extremely finicky, one wrong move and it was useless. If properly used, the user would spout the truthful to any answer asked within their knowledge. It was a win on his part no matter what happened. Hermione had to focus intensely to get even as far as she had by this point, but as of yet her potion looked good. Sunshine was doing well too, but for other reasons. He assumed it was because of what she was, but she had the knack for doing things just right, and fixing her mistakes instinctively. If she really wanted to, she could become very good with potions. But unfortunately, she had other commitments. It was a shame, she was a good student... but there was also something unnerving about her. Like she knew something that she shouldn't. He shook the thought and wandered over to Harry's potion, which looked almost about to blow. He didn't even with a comment, just moved on. Elric was also doing fairly well, much better than he would have thought. After a few moments of watching while pretending not to, he found that he was using alchemy to extract the components of the ingredients.  
"Wands down, the potions will have to stew for a day before we will resume working on them." With a silent wave of the wand the potions were transferred to a place to steep, and they were left to clean up their messes. Sunshine moved to clean a spot right next to Ed, and before he moved she started whispering.  
"I know you're mad at me, don't care. I've found someone who's actively connected to the Dark Lord, and we at least have to maintain a professional relationship in order for this to work. I'll let you know if anything changes."  
She moved as if to throw away the sponge she was using, making it look like nothing had happened. That night while in the common room Sunshine didn't join them, opting instead to follow a Mr. Malfoy.  
"Where'd your girlfriend go?" Dean asked Ed. "You two break up?"  
"No, and we were never dating."  
"Sure, whatever you say."  
Draco turned into a room that was filled with... things. It was like the room where all the lost stuff went. She knew it just didn't disappear. He approached a giant wardrobe and pulled the sheet off of it, watching it fall to the ground. He smiled in satisfaction, then opened it. He put something inside, and then closed it. When he opened it again, he pulled out an apple with a bite mark. Either there was someone on the other side, or there was someone in the wardrobe. Either way, it was not good. He was or sure going to get hurt if he continued doing this, and there was no need for more lives to be destroyed because of the Dark Lord. The shadows started to shift, and Draco whirled at the sound, sending a stunning curse. Another one had him turned in the other direction, and Sunshine was suddenly where it had been. Draco pointed his wand at her and narrowed his eyes.  
"What are you doing here?"  
"I think the question should be what are you doing here. Spill Draco."  
"I don't think you should be talking to me that way, if you want information. I could kill you right now."  
"Funny thing, you can't. You don't have the guts."  
"Take that back."  
"No."  
"If I don't have the guts, how come the Dark Lord asked me to take care of a special mission? Hm?"  
So the poor kid was a pawn. How sad. "And what exactly is he up to then? It must not be anything important if he's sending kids to do his work for him."  
Draco narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "It's something that can't be done by anyone but me, that's what. And it's key to his return. What's it to you?"  
"You're doing this alone?"  
"Yes."  
"That's a sure way to get killed. No offense, but you aren't powerful enough to do this, if it's as important as you say, alone."  
"What are you saying?"  
"What else? That I want to help."  
"Ed, what did happen the other night?"  
"Don't worry about it Hermione."  
"Everyone knows what happened except me, and I want to know."  
"Ron doesn't know."  
Ron remained silent at this, choosing instead to find the fire very interesting.  
"You know something, don't you?" Hermione accused. Ed shot him a glare. Ron didn't answer, so Ed stormed out to find Sunshine and beat her into a bloody pulp. She had no right to share that kind of information, that was his and his alone. She wasn't hard to find, but she was... off. She was swaying left and right, like she was in a daze and the look in her eyes was completely vacant. She saw him and smiled, but he could tell she didn't really know who he was or anything. From the looks of it, she couldn't even remember her own. Sunshine collapsed, and he barely caught her before taking her back to her room, trying to get her to stand. When he saw that the corridors were empty, he gave up and just carried her. The gargoyle looked at him and he glared at it.  
"Unless you really want to become a pile of pebbles, you'll move."  
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the lake today..."  
Ed ignored the comment and went up to see Dumbledore.  
"Sir, I hate to interrupt what I'm sure is a very important meeting, but I have a bit of an emergency."  
"No need, we were just finishing here. Minister."  
The minister made for the door, not even bothering to question the presence of the two teenagers. He had long ago learned that the circumstances behind the appearance of various people that had come to Dumbledore's office were too confusing to try to comprehend.  
"Mr. Elric, what has happened to Ms. Sunshine?"  
"I don't know sir, she looked... out of sorts and then collapsed on me. I didn't take her to madam Pomfrey because, well, I assume you know."  
"Please fetch Prof. Snape."  
Ed nodded and dashed down the halls, knowing was one of the surefire ways to be caught by the potions master.  
"Mr. Elric, detention for running in the halls. I expect to see you here at 8:00."  
"Good, it worked. I was actually running because Dumbledore needs you, it's urgent."  
"It was so urgent that you felt the need to run down the halls?"  
"It may be a matter of life or death," Ed said, half exaggerating, half being completely serious. He couldn't think of anything that would put Sunshine in such a state, she wasn't exactly fragile.  
"Who?"  
"Sunshine."  
"What happened?"  
"I was walking down the hall when I saw her. There was something wrong with her... she looked... vacant. Then she collapsed, and I took her to Dumbledore."  
"Next time, take her directly to me. I know more about her than anyone else in this castle besides herself."  
"Noted."  
Snape raised an eyebrow at his simple obedience, normally the student wouldn't listen no matter what he did or said. He had given the child up as incurable, but the child was able to respect authority. What an odd turn of events.  
"You know, I do know how to obey commands. I'm not stupid, and I do work for the military."  
"You could have fooled me."  
"Well duh, that's my job."  
By the time they reached Sunshine, Dumbledore had moved her to the hospital ward, and she was in her pyjamas. It was odd, watching her so still. She didn't twitch or show any signs of movement. Medically, she was dead. In a way it made him feel like some part of this was his fault, even though there was no way that could be true. He wished Al was here. Snape didn't even bother checking for a pulse, but did search for normal reflexive movement, but there was none. He watched silently, trying to be as out of the way as possible.  
"Mr. Elric, if you would be so kind as to fetch the dark red potion that is on the second shelf of my cabinet."  
"Yes sir."  
Ed walked out rather quickly, but refrained for running. He watched as Snape tipped it into her mouth with a vacant expression, which meant that he was not about to collapse, but that he was deep in thought. While she was... something that was, in a word, unnatural, she was also his half sister, which meant that he also needed to watch out for her. He sighed, all of this was too complicated. Rage was so much easier.  
"She needs something to start the reaction," Snape murmured.  
"I think I can provide that."  
It would be interesting, pumping energy through a, for all intents and purposes, dead body. The mechanics of it were fairly simple, all he was doing was helping her absorb the potion, but it was too much like a human transmutation. He pushed the thought away and placed his hands over her stomach, which started to glow before she sat up and coughed.  
"Where the hell am I?"  
"You, my dear, are in the sick bay. You had a rather unfortunate brush with death, and need to go hunting," Albus said. His presence had gone unnoticed, until he chose to speak.  
She nodded and got up, and then nearly fell over. Ed caught her before she could reach the ground. She looked at him, surprised. In all honesty she had expected him to let her fall. She quickly composed herself, and then looked at Albus.  
"Is there any place where...?"  
"Yes, unfortunately, it is a rather long distance to travel and overall distasteful. It can't be helped though, come. I have a porkey in my office. Mr. Elric, I assume that the others will want to know why Sunshine won't be joining the rest of the class tomorrow."  
"Of course sir. Are you sure you'll be alright?"  
Sunshine didn't realize for a second that it was directed at her, and then smiled and nodded. Ed nodded back, and then disappeared to update the others.  
"So where exactly are we going?"  
"Azkeban, the wizard's prison. There are some people on death row that I think will serve our purposes."  
Sunshine nodded, and then grabbed the porkey.  
"Hey, where were you?"  
"Making sure Sunshine was ok. Long story short, the potions Snape has been giving her doesn't cut it, and she collapsed. For a while I thought she was dead." Despite his even tone, he seemed pretty distressed about it.  
"Wait, you mean Ms. Vampire immortal, invincible, collapsed?""  
"WHAT?!?"  
"Oh, sorry, I forgot you didn't know. I would have told you... but she told me if I told she was going to torture me, with Snape's help. I think she was serious."  
"You knew," she said, pointing at Ed. He shrugged.  
"It's kind of a need to know thing. I guess she didn't think you belonged on that list."  
"So where is she now?" Ron was trying to divert the attention to something else, before Hermione got really mad.  
"She went with Dumbledore somewhere to get something to eat."  
"Since she's a vampire, does that mean...?"  
"Only part vampire, and yes."  
"How can someone only be part vampire?"  
"I don't know, she just is."


	4. Chapter 4

Outside a blizzard was building, the snow a stark contrast with the black of everything else. It actually looked really beautiful, he wondered if it was snowing in Amsteris. He was getting homesick, but more than that, he missed Al. He hoped Roy wasn't being too hard on him, unlike Ed, Al needed a little sensitivity. He sighed, and then decided to let it go. Roy could handle it, Al wasn't his concern right now. He had to focus, at this point they weren't getting anywhere, and that wasn't likely to change unless they changed _something_. Something did change, there was a large shake in the castle, sending everyone to their feet. Ed grabbed his wand and stuck it in his pocket before going to investigate, but there was no need. The door swung open to reveal several deatheaters, Bellatrix Lestrange among them. Ed didn't hesitate, it was plenty clear that these people were not supposed to be in the castle. He sent two death spells into their midst, ducked, and rolled before pausing for just a second to transmute his arm into a deadly blade. This was all the time they needed, however, to freeze Ron, Hermione, and Harry. Ed cursed, how the hell was he supposed to get them out of there if they were frozen? From behind the arm chair he took stock of the situation, the deatheaters were blocking the only real exit, and Harry, Hermione, and Ron were all useless liabilities. It was also likely that they weren't going to take hostages, at least, him. But why then had they not killed Ron and Hermione? Damnit, why had Sunshine chosen now to leave?  
"Come out, come out, wherever you are..."  
"God, even Envy wasn't that stupid. And that's saying something. We all know where I am, unless you're blind. Which you're about to be if you don't release my friends."  
"Aw, the little pipsqueak thinks he can intimidate us, how cute. How about if you don't come out, wand down, we'll kill him."  
"Yeah, right. When hell freezes over."  
"Here I thought you cared about them, Potter we have orders not to kill, but the others... they'll just be collateral damage."  
Ed sighed, they had tied both of his hands behind his back and he knew it. He transmuted his blade back and came out of his hiding place, knowing that they probably weren't going to kill him. If they were, they probably wouldn't have bothered to take hostages. That meant they wanted him for something, and it couldn't be good. Unless they were going to kill all of them in front of Harry as a show of power to make him feel like he couldn't do anything... But knowing Harry that wouldn't work. They'd just make him angry, and possibly suicidal. Immediately he was hit with a stunning curse, and frozen where he stood. They were taken down to the room filled with lost things, and transported through a wardrobe. When they got out, they were in a damp and decaying old mansion that looked like it was about to collapse. The fire was lit, and there were several people that were facing a chair that was turned away from them. The deatheaters pushed the 4 teens into a bow, and the chair swiveled around to reveal a rather old and disgusting looking face that was rather snake like. It reminded Ed of the chimera named Marta, who was actually half snake. He wondered if something similar had happened to this man. This by no means meant that he was not scared, but he could not afford to be anything but calm. Admittedly he was a little nervous, but that was all replaced by rage when he noticed a rather short figure. Sunshine removed her hood and smiled at him, doing her best to antagonize the young alchemist. The less he knew, at this point, the better. With any luck she would be able to explain it all later, if not, they were screwed any way so it didn't matter.  
"You, I thought..."  
"You thought wrong. I told you, free agent. I am where the power is."  
"You lied to me."  
"Betrayal, I'm beginning to like you more and more all the time. Unfortunately, we're not here for entertainment purposes. There's a few things that I need to take care of before I can move on to the next order of business. Harry, Harry, Harry, did you really think that you could defeat me? Unfortunately, you have something that belongs to me, and I now posses the means to get it back." He looked at Sunshine, who showed off her pointy teeth. She approached Harry, and brushed the hair from his neck. If it was one thing she hated, it was getting hair in her fangs. It was impossible to get out.  
"What are you doing?"  
"Relax, it only hurts if you tense," she hissed into his ear. He shivered, making her smirk. She pushed the fallen strands of hair out of the way again, and started sucking out his blood. She waited until his heartbeat was barely there before letting him go, making sure she got the last dregs of Voldemort's soul. As soon as she was finished, he fell to the ground as if dead. Ed broke the grip of the deatheaters and made to attack Sunshine, but she caught him and sent him crashing into the floor.  
"I should have killed you while I had the chance."  
"Probably, but you're not the only one who feels that way. I imagine Roy felt the same way."  
If there had been any doubt in Voldemort's mind that Sunshine was not completely loyal to him, it was gone now. It had become perfectly evident from the pieces of information gathered that this man was important to the both of them, and now he was dead. He didn't know that Roy was not actually dead, only pretending to be while waiting for the perfect time to take down the Fuhrer. Sunshine was using this knowledge to her advantage, as she did with everything she could.  
"You bitch."  
"Nothing I haven't ever been called before."  
"Well done. Wormtail, take these down to the dungeons. I'll be down to kill them personally in a while, when I feel like it."  
Ed was left in the room, which had been cleared to contain only Sunshine, himself, and Voldemort. He never took his glare off her.  
"What the hell do you want with me?"  
"Relax, nothing much. We just need you to open a portal to Amsteris. Not that terribly difficult."  
"WHAT!?! No way in fucking hell!"  
"I'm sorry you feel that way. Maybe this will help change your mind. Wormtail, bring the girl."  
Ed's eyes widened in alarm, and he looked to Sunshine for direction. She held his gaze, and nodded once. They went impossibly wider, which is another term for nothing happened except he was even more confused.  
"Fine, I'll do it."  
"Good, I thought you might feel that way. I expect the circle to be done before the day is over."  
"Sir, with all due respect, that kind of circle he doesn't know how to do. It'll take a week at least for him to begin drawing it," Sunshine intervened. Voldemort nodded, and then left, Sunshine on his heels. There had been an unspoken understanding that she was not to leave his side, something that she did not like at all, though she did it anyway, and kept a straight face about it. Her expression was almost condescending with its cold ambivalence, and none of the others took this well considering how fast she had moved to become the Dark Lord's new right hand. There were more than a few that wanted her gone, and none of them were very discreet about it. Out of all of them, Bellatrix was the one most angry, and the most intent on getting revenge. Had she known that Sunshine was carrying her master's soul within her, she wouldn't have touched a hair on her head. She didn't though, and somehow managed to corner the young vampire in an attempt to show her who was most loyal, and who deserved the most to be at his side. She caught Sunshine on her way to get food, though she didn't know it. Understandably, she was not in a very forgiving mood.  
"I see the little girl isn't so tough without the Dark Lord watching, is she?" Bellatrix questioned, catching her attention.  
"I'm plenty tougher than you, I'm also a heck of a lot smarter," Sunshine head. The hunger brought out her darker side and shifted her perspective, so things that were important weren't anymore, and right now, on the top of that list, was food. It wasn't like she really cared about Bellatrix anyway. The older woman whipped out her wand, but the blond had already attacked and it was too late. Luckily, Sunshine came to before she actually killed the older woman, and dropped the near dead carcass on the floor. After that, Bellatrix, not remembering what all had happened, only that she was unconscious because of Sunshine, minded her distance. Tensions ran even higher, and then Sunshine simply disappeared. They frantically searched for her, Voldemort tried to use the bond that tied them even, but she was nowhere to be found. The gate was almost finished as well, tomorrow they would activate it. Of course, Sunshine had a plan to stop this, and also get rid of the piece of soul that wasn't hers at the same time. The only problem was getting Ed to do what he needed to, which was go through the portal with her. That was going to be a challenge, but not if she dragged him down. She watched from the rafters as he finished the circle, then started to go over it again with a piece of chalk. He double checked his calculations, and looked at the guard behind him. He had made it unstable slightly, so that is was likely to close within a few seconds of being opened. He was mostly going on the fact that he still trusted that Sunshine had a plan because if she didn't, they were dead either way.  
"I'm finished."  
"Good, we'll go fetch the master now."  
All of them left the room, eager to tell their master that it was ready for use. When they got back though, the circle was gone, along with Ed, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Sunshine. Voldemort smiled, it had gone exactly to plan. Harry was no longer a threat, and the part of his soul that had been in Harry was in him again, not in any of those brats. Though Sunshine was a very good servant, too bad she had too many ties to the light. To maintain his reputation though, he killed the ones that were in the room. It wouldn't do for them to think that he was weak, and as far as everyone else was concerned, Harry and Co. were dead. Those rumors alone were good enough for the stage to be set for his take over.  
Roy had been filing out paperwork when 5 teenagers were dumped on his floor. He looked up in slight alarm, then saw that it was Sunshine and Ed, among other people that did not look like a threat. All of them looked unconscious, so he did what seemed reasonable at the time, he woke Ed up. By setting him on fire. He didn't really flinch, only put it out and looked up at his attacker. That's when Roy realized that the kid looked like death, several times over. Ed's eyes widened when he realized he was not in the dark basement of a madman's home, he was in the office that he knew and, at least for the moment, loved.  
"Fuck, I thought that was never going to work. AND YOU'RE NOT DEAD!!! FUCK YES!!!"  
This woke the others up, and Sunshine reflexively reached out to do whatever necessary to shut up the source of the noise. When she realized it was something soft and squishy under her hand, her eyes shot open. She then jumped on Roy, hugging him as if he were going to disappear. Alarmed, the Lt. Hawkeye, Havoc, and Hughes burst into the room, alerted by the screaming. They saw two blonde people attatched to Roy, and three others of the same age looking very confused. They lowered their weapons, deciding that there was no threat.  
"Why would I be dead?"  
"I may have told him I killed you... It's a long story. In the mean time, they all need to get somewhere to sleep, and I need to eat."  
"Who are they, exactly?"  
"I'm Harry Potter, this is Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley."  
"I have rooms at my house. Sunshine, you go."  
She slipped out, and Roy took the kids to his home. Ed was dropped off with Al, and the others went to his house. Al immediately began fussing over him, while Ed shrugged him off to sleep. Al watched over, concerned. This was not what he had expected, he thought that Ed would want to... he didn't know, talk or something? Not just blow him off in favor of sleeping. Something was wrong. He peeked in his brother's room, and noticed that Ed was laying completely and totally still, barely even breathing. His face was tensed, his entire body was tense. Al didn't know what to do, he couldn't exactly comfort him. He left to start fixing breakfast, but when he reached the kitchen he realized he didn't know how to cook. He sighed, there was just so much that he couldn't do because of this body he was stuck in at the moment. Roy was worrying too, though he'd never admit it. The blonde had always been fiery, and never hesitant to lash back. But he had just... ignored it when Roy had set him on fire. He couldn't think of a single incident that Ed had been involved in that Ed hadn't retaliated in some way, the kid was just bent on revenge. He had just, dismissed it so entirely. And then hugging him... that had certainly not been expected either. Fullmetal never showed any sign of affection, ever. Not even to his brother as far as Roy knew, at least, physically. He always leaned away from any form of contact, no exceptions. To initiate that... it had been more than unexpected. Same with Sunshine, though he knew her reasons.  
When Sunshine came back home, she too looked exhausted, though she was at least able to stand on her own two feet. She sat down on the end of the couch opposite of Roy, and waited for him to begin asking exactly what happened. He looked up from his book, trying to decide where to begin. Taking this as her que, Sunshine jumped right into it.  
"We were looking after Harry Potter because a man named Tom Riddle was trying to kill him. Harry was trying to kill Tom, who goes by Lord Voldemort, because Voldemort was trying to take over his world, which is in the universe parrellel to this one, where magic evolved instead of alchemy. Tom, when he was really young, decided to make himself kind of immortal by making Horcruxes, which allowed him to attatch pieces of his soul to objects, and unless they were destroyed, he wouldn't be. During an accident when Harry was a baby, Tom accidentally made Harry into a Horcrux, and that's why Harry is the only real threat, as Tom sees it anyway. While we were there, Tom's followers stormed the castle and took us captive, and made Ed open a portal back here, which should be closed by now. That's how we got back, and why all of them are in such horrible state. I pretended to want to be a part of all this, and I know where all the Horcruxes are and what they are as well. The others don't know this yet."  
"What do they know?"  
"They know that we work for another place, here, though they don't know that specifically. They also know what I am, and so does Ed, he also knows that I'm his half sister. The others don't know that, though they do know Ed's past. I forgot, Harry also knows that I'm related to Ed. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Envy's dead."  
"Who?"  
"My brother. I guess if Ed never mentioned him, he's not that important. Anything I'm leaving out?"  
"Does Tom know that you know where his Horcruxes are?"  
"No, I don't think so. I only figured it out through some careful sneaking, that I'm sure he doesn't know about."  
"Why did Fullmetal think I was dead?"  
"I had to tell him that to get Tom to believe that I was on his side and trustworthy, which worked, to a large extent. He had me carry his soul before I went through the gate."  
"I expect nothing less from you. It's good to have you back."  
"Where am I?" Ron looked completely disoriented as he walked down the stairs several hours later. Sunshine had fallen asleep against the Colonel, who was also sleeping and had his arm wrapped around her. "Oi! Sunshine! Where the hell is this bloody place?"  
Sunshine was immediately awake. She brushed off Roy's arm and sat up.  
"Morning to you too. Last time I checked, we cleaned up the blood, and this is where I happen to live. Now shut the hell up before you wake everyone up, and help me start breakfast."  
Ron blushed and followed her in the kitchen, where she started pulling down assorted boxes and instructed him on how to prepare everything. She went at it like a mad woman, making anything and everything a person would want for breakfast. This was what woke up Roy first, followed by Harry and Hermione. By this time the flurry of cooking was almost over, and the table was set. All they were missing were Fullmetal and Al. Sunshine left the rest to them while she went to fetch them, knowing their address already. She knocked on the door, but no one answered. Her expression darkened imperceptibly, and she tried again. There was still no answer. Fed up, she picked the lock. The apartment was completely clean, not one thing out of place. This was the first sign that she recognized that something was wrong, she knew Ed was not a neat person. She flattened her back against the wall and continued to move through the houe, looking for any signs of life. She opened the door to the bedroom, and gasped with shock. Al was transmuted partially into the wall, not moving at all, but watching his brother's sleeping form. It looked like there had been a violent struggle, pieces were missing from the bed and wall, the floor was a lumpy mess. That wasn't the worst of it.  
The bed that Ed was sleeping in was covered in blood, and some of it looked fresh. Another kind of liquid material was mixed in there as well, and Sunshine couldn't see any of the young alchemist. She didn't enter the room, just stood in the door way.  
"Al."  
The suit of armor didn't really recognize another person was there, and didn't respond.  
"AL!"  
"What? Who's there? Who are you? You shouldn't be here!"  
"Relax, it's ok. I'm a friend. What happened?"  
"He... I don't know. When I came in to check on him, he threw me against the wall and transmuted me into it. Can you get me down?"  
"Yeah. Ok, I'm going to come in. As soon as I get you out, I want you to go tell Roy what happened, ok?"  
"Roy?"  
"Colonel Mustang."  
"But..."  
"Trust me Al."  
"Ok."  
Sunshine got Al out of the wall, and then approached the figure that was on the bed.  
"Ed?"  
He didn't move, or twitch. He was out cold, lost in his own world. She touched him tentatively, not sure how he was going to react. He shot up and glared, and she was sure he didn't recognize who she was. She quickly retracted her hand, but he had already slapped her away with surprising force. She didn't falter.  
"Ed, you're hurt. I need to get you some help."  
"I'm fine, and you don't want to help me, you want to hurt me," he growled.  
"Can I at least look at you? I need to know where you're hurt."  
"If you come any closer, I'll kill you."  
"Good luck."  
She grabbed the covers and slid them off the bed before Ed could comprehend what she had done. He was in bad shape, shallow wounds covered every exposed piece of skin, and that was only what she could see. He was deathly pale, and horribly thin. She hadn't seen him since he started the circle, so this was a real shock to her, though on afterthought it shouldn't have been. He tried to reach for her, but she was out of the way again, holding his arm outstretched, making it impossible for him to move it. He growled in protest and fixed his most heated death glare on her, but she brushed it off like it was nothing.  
"Fuck, Ed. What the hell happened? You look like hell."  
She was looking at Ed directly, with a gaze that could only be sincere. He looked away, not wanting to deal with the conflicting emotions. She had betrayed them all. That was the end of it.  
"So you're not going to answer me, huh? Can't say I don't blame you. But before you go on thinking that I betrayed you, I wasn't ever actually on his side. I was learning where the horcruxes are, but you can't come with us to destroy them if you're half dead. Let's get you to the hospital."  
Ed allowed her to help him hobble into his living room, which was still just as spotless as he left it, with the exception of the bloody smears he was trailing behind him.  
"Where are you bleeding?"  
"All over I think. They had fun forcing me to draw the circle faster."  
"We're going to have to get you checked into the hospital, I don't know how to fix this kind of thing. Sorry I couldn't get the info sooner, but I couldn't be suspicious."  
"I know. Where's Al?"  
"I sent him to get Roy... he'll be here any minute..."  
Ed moaned and held his torso, trying to get the pain to go away. It was one thing when there were light slashes in only one place, or not very many of them, but they were all over... and there were so many... Sunshine was tempted to run her tongue over them, not in any sick and disgusting type of way, but she knew that her spit sealed up the wounds she left when she bit a person. Unfortunately, she also knew it changed people into vampires. As soon as she heard the knocking on the door, she darted up and helped Ed to the door before swinging it open and marching right past the astonished Roy. He quickly shut his mouth and started driving to the hospital.  
"What happened to you?"  
Sunshine shot him a glare, which never happened. Usually she respected Roy like... there weren't really words to describe their relationship, but that never happened. Ed had already passed out again, and Roy kept driving silently. When they got to the hospital Sunshine gently shook her brother awake, and then helped him into a bed. Roy watched, kind of amused, as Sunshine interrogated the staff as to what exactly they were going to do with him, lacing it with commands. When she was finally satisfied, she went for Roy and asked to be driven home so she could get back to her charge, and her other brother, though he wasn't aware of this yet. Ron, Hermione, and Harry were still solidly working through their food, absolutely famished. Roy excused himself to get ready for work, not letting the others know there was something wrong, while Sunshine went to find Al, who she had been told was waiting in the living room. The others didn't know this yet, as they had been distracted and Al was feeling rather shy. Sunshine closed the door quietly behind her. Al was completely still, not wanting to alert her of his presence. It seemed that she had already been alerted though, and she smiled at him.  
"Hey Al, are you ok?"  
"Where's Ed?"  
"He's in the hospital right now, they had done a number to him. Poor thing, when he attacked you he must have been delusional because of the fever he's been under."  
"What happened?"  
"We were taken, by our enemies, when we were on protection detail, and they weren't particularly gentle."  
"We?"  
"I'm undercover undercover. He didn't even know I was going to help him until I got there."  
"Oh. Are you a state alchemist too?"  
"No, not officially anyway. Now I have to check on the others, wanna came?"  
"Sure."  
Ron, Hermione, and Harry were all trying to figure out to do dishes, wait, no, that's not it. Hermione was trying to figure out how to do dishes, Harry was kind of copying her, and Ron was giving them advice, though he had never done dishes by by hand himself.  
"Hello," Al said, somewhat shyly.  
"Hi, I don't remember you, my name's Hermione. Oh, you must be Ed and Sunshine's little brother."  
"No, I'm only Ed's brother."  
"Nope, you're mine too. Well, half brother."  
Harry set down the dish in frustration.  
"We can't use magic here," he said in a frustrated tone. "How are we supposed to do anything? I didn't think Muggles had it this hard. Damn."  
Sunshine laughed and took the dish, expertly cleaning it. "First thing I'm going to teach you to do is dishes when we get back. For now, Hermione, you can dry, and Harry, you can put away. Al, you and Ron can gather them up and scrape them off."  
When Roy came in they were happily chatting while cleaning up.  
"Well, I never thought I would see so many teenagers doing so many productive things at once. It's a miracle."  
"You forget who normally does the chores."  
"That would be me."  
She turned and gave him a glance. "Yes, that's why I've had to clean up after you since I moved in, and why I took care of you for a month."  
"That was different, remind me to kill Ed."  
"Oh, so that's what that was all about."  
"What what was all about?"  
"He got a letter in the mail from you, and he wouldn't tell us why. And then the thing with the lake..."  
"What about the lake?" Sunshine said icily, warning Ron to shut his mouth.  
"Nothing, never mind. I don't know what you're talking about." Harry had no such ideas of self preservation.  
"Are you talking about when Ed came to class soaking wet and in his pajamas? _You _had something to do with that Ron? Even after he..."  
"I'm still waiting," Roy said.  
"Fine, I was mad at him for making me take care of you, so Ron and I put him on a blow up mattress on the lake. It isn't my fault that he had no sense of balance and fell off, and then showed up to class late. Oh, and he doesn't know Ron was apart of that, and you're not going to tell him."  
"I'm not?"  
"No, or it'll be _that_ incident again."  
Roy shuddered in remembrance, and then nodded. Those had not been fun times, at least, for him. Everyone else had gotten a kick out of it, that is, until he set them on fire.  
"My brothers would love you," Ron said.  
"NO!" Hermione and Harry shouted at the same time. All hell would break loose if Sunshine ever met the Weasley twins. Sunshine started laughing.  
"In all seriousness though, when are we going back?"  
"After Ed gets out of the hospital. In the meantime, you can all stay here. I'm late though, I'll see you later this evening. I expect this house to be in one piece."  
Roy left the house, trusting that Sunshine wouldn't let things get out of hand.  
"So what exactly did Ed do to Roy? I can't imagine him crazy."  
"Well... it's a long story..."  
By the time Roy came home, the teenagers were all sleeping in the living room, and the house practically sparkled. All day while she had been talking, Sunshine had figured she needed to do something with her hands, and the dirty house was beginning to annoy her. Harry, Ron, and Hermione didn't want to feel completely useless, so they had helped her out some. Roy draped some blankets over them, and then went to his own bed. When Ed woke up again in the hospital, he was temporarily disoriented. At first he was frantic, trying to figure out where he was, and then he relaxed when he remembered what had happened, and that he was no longer in danger. He still hated hospitals though, they were simply disgusting. Of course, he needed to be here, and he felt wonderful compared to earlier, but he still hated it. He needed to than Sunshine earlier, even though he was still sorting out how he felt about her. She always seemed to be on the edge between friend and enemy, but still put their mission first. But she had saved him too, which was something that he couldn't account for. So far she had only been doing things to help the mission, and he couldn't decide if it was because she cared about him, or that it would be harder to make sure Harry did what he was supposed to if he were dead. She seemed to genuinely want to be friends though, at least, and Roy managed to put up with her, though why was another question all its own. He didn't even want to begin to comprehend that relationship.  
"How are you feeling?"  
"Much better, thanks. When will I be able to get out of here?"  
"Not too much longer from now, just want to make sure you're not going to get infected." She smiled at him sweetly. "Can I get you anything?"  
Understanding? A magical potion that can heal all his wounds? Answers? Somehow, he didn't think she could offer that. He shook his head, and she left, only to be replaced by Sunshine herself.  
"How are you feeling?"  
"Ok, I guess. Why did you save me?"  
"Cause, you're my little brother. Did you really think I would just ditch you?"  
"I don't get you, one second we're good, the next, you're betraying us for some other purpose."  
"Dude, sometimes the way you act like Roy is scary. And, I'm not sure I can put it into words. You're a friend, I wouldn't ever completely abandon you, or Al, or Harry or Hermione or Ron, but that was the only way, at the time, that I could really get the information that we needed. And I didn't betray you, when they came, I simply took advantage of the situation."  
"I act like the Colonel?"  
"Yeah, it's freaky."  
"Hah! I'd like to hear you tell him that!"  
"He laughed."  
That, Ed did not see coming.  
"You're kidding."  
"Nope. Seriously though, you going to be ok?"  
"Of course. Knocking on death's door and then running away pisses him off, and you know pissing people off is one of my favorite hobbies."  
"If you say so. I've got to get back, but don't get yourself killed, ok?"  
"Sure. Wait, before you go. How exactly do you know him?"  
"He's our god father. Night Ed."  
"WAIT!!!"  
It was too late, she was already out the door, an evil smirk on her face.  
The days passed both slowly and quickly, Ed eventually was let out of the hospital. He was still not entirely recovered though, so he was still under house arrest and they weren't going back to Hogwarts just yet.  
"Ed, if I have to remind you one more time to do the dishes..."  
"I'm actually kind of curious as to what threat he'll use, he's been running out lately," Sunshine whispered to Hermione, who nodded.  
"... I'll have no other choice but to drown you in the water."  
"You're losing your touch Roy, think faster," Sunshine said.  
"I'll make you go stand in the sun."  
"I'll douse your gloves in lighter fluid."  
"Next time I'll snap them it'll be in your room."  
"I'll take all the buttons from your clothes."  
"I'll give you a haircut while you're sleeping."  
"You'll have glittery hair for a month."  
"That wasn't funny, by the way. I think they still refer to that behind my back."  
"I told you, stop leaving your keys wherever, I don't like it."  
"Was that what that was about? I thought that time you hid them, and locked me out of the house for a couple days."  
"I lose track. That reminds me, Fullmetal, you're on my list."  
"What? What did I do?"  
"I seem to remember you putting enough caffeine in the office that none of us except Hawkeye slept for two weeks."  
"I don't know what you're talking about."  
"Sure you don't, that's what they all say."  
"When are we going back? As much as I enjoy taking a break, Voldemort is still alive."  
"Tomorrow I should be up to it, I'm just still a little sore."


	5. Chapter 5

The next day they were back in Hogwarts, Albus had sent someone over when Roy called. Ed suppressed the urge to hug all of his books, he had missed them so much... He put them in his suitcase along with all his other possessions while the others did something similar. Sunshine and Harry where done first, so they went to inform the headmaster of their plans. They took care not to alert the other students of their return, as it was decidedly up to Albus as to whether it would be a good or bad thing that the students knew they were back, if only for a for a little while. It didn't take nearly as long as they had expected to find and destroy the Horcruxes, but even less time for Voldemort to figure out what they were doing. There was only one more left when Voldemort arrived to confront them, and kill them. Within seconds, Ron and Hermione were dead, killed by the killing curse. Harry, Sunshine, and Ed turned around when they saw the bright green light, and the three were on the defensive in a second. Ed transmuted his blade, and moved to protect Harry, while Sunshine tried to take out as many of the deatheaters as she could. Harry and Ed ran to destroy the horcrux, and Sunshine assaulted the group of wizards and witches. Mr. Malfoy was the first to go, his guts ripped from him, followed by Wormtail. When the werewolf lunged forward, she didn't miss a beat, delivering a swift upper cut to his jaw.  
"Vampire huh? Thought you smelled like garbage."  
She smiled, landing neatly in a crouch from the blow he delivered to her chest. She shifted her weight and ran to attack him again, meeting him mid lunge. He bit her arm, and she got his neck, spitting out fur bits while he got a strangle hold on her neck. She kicked him off and rolled over, leaping to her feet. Inside, Ed was fighting off Bellatrix and trying to keep Voldemort busy, so far Bellatrix had a down right nasty gash in her shoulder, leaving her usual wand hand useless, but Voldemort didn't have a scratch on him. He was slippery, like a snake, and delivering spells that Ed had to constantly dodge. Combined with Bellatrix's spells that were flowing from her left hand, if somewhat awkwardly, it was all he could do to keep Harry and himself alive. Eventually he landed a fatal blow to Bellatrix, just as Harry drove the fang into the horcrux. Sunshine was beginning to lose ground on the relentless werewolf, she was sporting a few scratches, not that he wasn't having his own. She was loosing blood, a lot of it. It soaked the ground in front of the cave, but it wasn't just hers. Finally the werewolf lunged just right, and she kicked it off her hard enough to shred several main internal organs. It was finally dead. She burnt the pieces though, for good measure, and then went in to see how Harry was doing, clutching the tear that stretched across her entire stomach. The blood that flowed through her hands was unusually bright, almost glowing, and toxic to people that weren't her. They were going to have quite the mess on their hands cleaning this one up.  
She got in just as Voldemort sent a killing curse at Ed, who she pushed out of the way, saving his life by mere inches. She was careful not to get any of her blood on him, and wiped her hands on her dress before clutching the wound all over again. Just because she was immortal didn't mean that she could not get hurt, she wasn't in any condition to fight. Harry and Voldemort were caught in some kind of duel, a stream of light jutting out between them, and then they both collapsed. Sunshine passed out at this, and Ed tried to staunch the bleeding with bits of clothes as best as he could. There wasn't much he could do, all things considering, and he was exhausted. Still, he had to try. _God Sunshine, I knew you thought you were invincible, but picking on a werewolf? That's a whole other kind of crazy that only you can come up with._  
Harry was... or was he? He didn't even know. He supposed he must, or else he wouldn't be able to contemplate this. He couldn't feel anything, or see anything either. He supposed this must be because his eyes were closed, and when this occurred to him he opened them. It wasn't much different, he decided, only everything was white, instead of black. There was really... nothing, was the only word that came to mind. He still noticed that he had a body, which was a good sign. He wasn't just floating either, there was something beneath him that was solid. And, now that he thought about it, he had clothes on. In fact, the more he thought about things, the more they tended to happen. The only thing he couldn't do was populate people, but that might have been because he didn't want to. It was working too, until Dumbledore showed up.  
"Good afternoon."  
"Sir?"  
"Ah, I see. So you've defeated the dark lord then?"  
"Yeah, I mean, I think so. I'm not entirely sure... where are we?"  
"This is the place between living and death, and you get to choose which one you want to be. You can't stay here forever, you know."  
"What about Ron and Hermione?"  
"I think you'll find that they're perfectly fine, though I'm not entirely sure. The rules of this type of thing vary for each person, and even circumstance. Of course, the only way you can know this is if you return."  
Harry shrugged, putting the idea out of his mind. He wasn't going to start worrying until he got back, which he eventually would. He still had a few questions to ask though, before he left.  
"Why are you here?"  
"I'm not alive anymore, and you summoned me."  
"You're dead? How the hell did you let that happen?"  
"Ah, a good question. You see, I can't answer that, it begs too many questions to which I can't give the answer to as it's not my information to share. Let's just say that it was not unexpected."  
"Was it Draco? Or maybe Snape... I bet it was one of them."  
"Relax my boy, it doesn't matter who did it, only that it was done. If you want to leave, you might want to now. If you stay much longer I'm not sure if you're going to be able to get back."  
Harry nodded, and closed his eyes. For some reason it seemed perfectly normal to will himself back into existence...  
When he opened them again, he groaned. He hurt all over, the cave floor not making a very good place to heal. In the corner, Ed was trying to patch up Sunshine, Ron and Hermione were nowhere to be found. He sat up and found that he could move, not that it was particularly pleasant, in fact, it was the opposite. He made himself stand anyway, leaning against the wall for support. He stumbled over to the two siblings, who didn't notice him.  
"Is she going to be ok?"  
"I think so, she's bleeding a lot. What about you? And is he coming back?"  
Harry looked at the pile of robes, they were the only remains, and shook his head.  
"I'll be fine, and I'm pretty sure he's gone for good. I guess we should get you back to the school, huh? Both of you look pretty torn up."  
"I've had worse," Ed said dismissively. Harry cocked an eyebrow, it was hard to imagine worse, Ed looked pretty battered. It was a miracle in itself that Ed was still conscious, at least to Harry. Ed lifted Sunshine in his arms, and they left the cave. As soon as Hermione saw him, she was tempted at the same time to hug him and smack him, for being alive and putting himself in that kind of danger.  
"We need to get you back to Hogwarts, and I need to go home. Come on."  
"Are you going to carry her then entire way? You look pretty beat up yourself."  
"Don't you have some kind of spell to get us home?"  
"No."  
"That puts a damper on things then, I'll carry her until she either wakes up, someone finds us, or I can't anymore."  
By the time they eventually had to stop, Sunshine's bleeding had stopped. This was taken as a good sign for the both of them, and they set her down to rest for a few minutes before they got going again.  
"You have any idea where we're going?"  
"Not a clue. And I'm starving. I never realized saving the world took so much out of you."  
"Eh, you get used to it," Ed joked.  
"So what are you going to do when you get back?"  
"Probably go another mission, why?"  
"I dunno, just curious. Not going to stay and finish school?"  
"Nah, too many other responsibilities I have to take care of first. What about you?"  
"I... don't know. All my life the only goal I've had has been reached, and I just never thought about what would happen after that, you know? And now that Ron and Hermione are dead..." Harry nearly choked on the sadness that welled in him from the loss of his friends. He always knew there was a chance, but never expected it to really happen...  
"I know, it's hard," Ed said, remembering the people he had lost, Nina, his mother, he thought he had lost Al. He still hadn't gotten over the feeling that Al was going to disappear on him every time something happened...  
"Where the hell am I?"  
"Good to see you're awake, Sunshine."  
"I'm not. Damn, I feel like hell. Oh, hi Harry. I guess this means that we won."  
"Hi. Yeah, he's gone. Do you have any way to get out of this forest? I think we're lost."  
"Not a chance, my friend. How exactly did I get here?"  
"I carried you."  
"You didn't get any blood on you, did you?"  
"How stupid you think I am? Of course not."  
"Good," she sighed and leaned back against the tree she was next to. It had been a long time since she had been hurt as bad as this, most of the time she wasn't physically fighting things that were about equal in strength to her. "Though sometimes I wonder..."  
"Hey!!!"  
She shrugged, and then fell asleep. It wasn't long before the other two did the same thing.  
It felt like forever until they finally made it back to Hogwarts, and Harry had the urge to hug the walls and never let go. Instead, they went to the headmaster's office, where Dumbledore was waiting for them. Home, they were so close to home... Ed couldn't wait to be back. It had been too long since he had seen Al.  
"So I take it you were successful?"  
"Of course, would we be here is we weren't?" Ed asked.  
"I suppose that would be correct. It was lovely having you here, Sunshine, Edward. Take my arms, and I'll take you home."  
"Promise to write," Harry said. Ed and Sunshine nodded, and then they were gone. Albus was back with him a second later.  
"Care for a lemon drop?"  
Although she didn't want to admit it, Sunshine was on her last dregs of energy. She had pushed herself to make it back, perhaps a little too far. Her wounds hadn't been healing properly because she hadn't been able to rest, they would only heal over if she were still. As soon as they were back in Roy's office, she dragged herself over to the couch and layed down. She felt so useless not being in top condition, it was unsettling. It reminded her of what she had been, and how fragilke she still could be.  
"So I take it the mission was successful?"  
"Not without casualties, sir. My charge and Hermione were lost, they were killed before we had time to react." Her voice was kind of muffled as she was laying face down, but not so much that Roy couldn't understand what she was saying. "I failed."  
"There was no way we could have saved them," Ed countered. "They were dead before we could even comrehend Voldemort was even there."  
"Doesn't change the fact that I failed. Part of my mission was to keep Ron alive, and now he's dead. I should have been more..."  
"Your orders were to protect them, which you did to the best of your abilities. You can't be blamed for that loss," Roy decided, bringing an end to the argument. "Are you alright, Sunshine?"  
It was not normal for her to act like this, normally she tried to keep within the strict code of respect that he demanded from all his subordinates. He couldn't think of anything that would make her act like this.  
"I'm fine."  
"Liar, that werewolf tore the crap out of you."  
"If you can't tell, I'm sticking my tongue out at you."  
"Just how extensive are the injuries?"  
"I don't know, I didn't get a good look. She's fairly good at hiding them under her clothes."  
"I'll be fine, really. This isn't the first time I've been hurt."  
"This is the first time I've seen you hurt enough to collapse on my couch like that. I want you at home, in bed."  
"Yes sir."  
She was reluctant to pry herself from the couch, where she had just about melted, but did so anyway. She put her hand on the door, resisting the urge to just fall asleep on the floor, though it was really tempting.  
"Ed, go with her. I'm sure you could use the recovery time as well."  
"What? I'm fine!"  
"I'm sure you are. Go home, and to bed. I don't want to see you in this office until tomorrow. Understood?"  
"Ok, sure. Whatever you say. Come on Sunshine, let's go."  
She nodded, and then the two of them left. Roy had Havoc drop them off at his house, where Al was. Sunshine stumbled onto the couch, and promptly fell asleep. Ed raided the kitchen, leaving nothing untouched but the milk, and then said hi to Al before going to sleep. It was very quiet in the house until Roy got home, and he lifted Sunshine from her sleeping place and carried her to her room. She stirred a little bit, and then went still. She looked a thousand years younger when she was sleeping, it was cliche, but it was the truth, it was the only time she looked her age.  
"Where the hell? Oh, yeah." For a second Ed had forgotten where he was.  
"Fullmetal, why the hell can't you do your job right the first time?"  
"What?"  
"First assignment I gave you, no less. Maybe you were too small to handle such a large problem. I should have known."  
"What are you talking about?"  
"Liore, there's trouble there, again. I'm sending you to fix it, properly this time."  
"What about Sunshine?"  
"I don't know who you're talking about. Imaginary friends now? That's low, even for you."  
"What are you talking about? Of course she's real. You sent her to help me while we were in Hogwarts."  
"You're imagination is over reactive, perhaps you aren't ready for a new mission."  
"You know perfectly well who I'm talking about. Stop playing dumb."  
"Are you going, or not?"  
Ed glared at him. "Of course I'm going." He could recognize when Mustang was just going to be an ass and the conversation was not going to get anywhere. Of course, it never made talking to him any more pleasant.  
"Where are we going now?" Al asked excitedly. He still hadn't quite gotten over being left behind last time.  
"Liore, there's more trouble."  
"I thought we already went there."  
"Somebody else managed to screw it up again. Can't say I'm really surprised."  
Ed packed his things, taking care to include his caffeine powder. What Mustang didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?  
"Why exactly are we doing this again?"  
"It's a new invention, we wanted to make sure nothing went wrong. If it did, we figured that you would be able to help fix it. That, and you have a knck for surviving dangerous things against the odds."  
"Come on, are you afraid of a little heights?"  
"Why don't you do it if you're so cocky?"  
"I'm not the one that needs to get to Liore, and quickly."  
Ed looked over the biplane again, looking for any visible flaws. He didn't find any, but that didn't mean he was convinced that the contraption was in any way safe. Then again, he didn't really have a choice.  
"Ok, I'll do it. But if I die, it's on your soul," he told Roy.  
"I thought you were convinced that I had none."  
Ed shrugged in response, and climbed into the rickety looking thing. Al got in behind him, and after what seemed a long time, they took off. It seemed like it was going fine, and after a while Ed relaxed a bit. Then things went downhill, fast. The pilot had a heart attack, and Ed just barely to take control of the plane and somehow made sure it didn't crash... at least... too badly. The landing was a little rough, and his head banged on the dashboard, hard. He passed out.  
**That's not fair! You did that on purpose!**  
I have no idea what you are talking about  
**You saved the plane when you should have saved me! What did I ever do to deserve getting my head banged on the dashboard!?!**  
Shush, it's important to the plot. And I love biplanes, I couldn't just destroy it. That would be just so... cruel.  
**You are an awful person.**  
"I feel... like my head... just went through... a blender. And Al... I want... YOUR BRAINS!!!" Ed leapt at his unsuspecting brother, who's eyes went wide with shock.  
**This is your idea of important to the plot?**  
"Ed, you're not a zombie."  
"Aw, come on. It's fun." Ed relinquished his perch on Al's head, where he had been chewing on the armor.  
"Aren't you a little concerned that we don't know where we are?"  
"I know where we are..."  
"And that would be...?"  
"Here."


End file.
